Boo's Bulletin

January 18, 2009

Happy New Year and welcome to the first newsletter of 2009.

We celebrated the end of the year by having a holiday open house and Toys for Tots toy drive. We are happy to say that we gathered many toys and had a good time in the process.

We are currently planning our next program and we’ll have some information soon. Keep checking www.caper.pararesearch.org for updates.

CAPER is happy to announce some changes to our team.

Matt Hoskins has been promoted from Tech Manager to Lead Investigator. Sarah McEvoy has been promoted to Case Manager and Noah Carlise has been promoted to Tech Manager.

If you would like to congratulate Matt, Sarah and Noah on their promotions or to get more information about our members click here.

We have some really interesting articles in this edition. Matt Hoskins takes a look at the bridge collapse in Miamitown and the Native American belief that spirits cannot cross water. Sarah McEvoy takes a look at cold spots. Joy Naylor writes about stigmatized properties and disclosing when your property is haunted.

Now turn the lights off, turn on a scary movie and sit back and enjoy this edition of the newsletter.

Michele Hale and Joy Naylor

Directors

Articles appearing in this newsletter: Miamitown Bridge Collapse of 1989 Cold Spots Ghost - Disclose?

Miamitown Bridge Collapse of 1989
Back in October CAPER participated in the Miamitown Ghost tours down in Miamitown. It was a great experience and a fun time had by all. There was a segment of the tour that caught my interest. In 1989 Miamitown erected a temporary bridge over the Great Miami River, while they were building the new permanent one. Unfortunately, the days leading up to May 26^th were extremely rainy downriver. This lead to what witnesses describe as “massive amounts” of debris floating by and striking the temporary bridge. At about 5:25pm the bridge collapsed, and plunged into the Great Miami River.

Witnesses reported two care falling with the bridge, a passenger car and a pickup truck. Many witnesses have said they saw both of these cars go tumbling into the river. However, only the bodies of the passengers in the car, along with the car itself, were ever recovered. No one was reported missing in the area, and after awhile claims of a 2^nd car were dismissed. It remains a great mystery, while some people swearing there was a 2^nd car. We will probably never know if there was or wasn’t. While there are no ghost stories specifically about the bridge, it remains an interesting fact of Miamitown’s history. After all, the Native Americans believed souls could not cross running water, maybe the souls of the two victims of the Miamitown Bridge collapse were not able to re enter Miamitown.

Matt Hoskins
Lead Investigator
Cold Spots
A “cold spot” is in theory an area of a given space that is significantly colder than the areas surrounding it. The source is suggested to be a paranormal entity that is drawing energy from the air thus leaving that air colder in that space. There are many arguments posed against this theory. Skeptics are going dispute your temperature evidence as draughts, convection or even humidity. Ghost hunters who want to consider or present “cold spots” as evidence need to properly debunk any other possible causes of the drop in temperature other than the paranormal.

The most commonly used method of identifying a cold spot is by IR thermometer. When using an IR Thermometer, just as you would with any other implement of measurement, it is important to understand what it is actually measuring. An IR Thermometer measures the surface temperature of what it is pointed at, not the air in a space. It is also important to note that it doesn’t measure just the small dot on the surface it is measuring, but a wider scope of space around the laser dot which can differ based on the space between the thermometer and the object. It’s important to research thermometers and read the manual so that you know the limits of what you can detect. And if you are lucky enough to have a FLIR Thermal Imaging camera, okay honestly-unless you are making a living at this on TV or are independently wealthy-you probably don’t. Just do the best you can with what you have. The most important thing to do is always consider the possibility of the normal before the paranormal.

Sarah McEvoy
Case Manager
Ghost - Disclose?
If the thought of buying a house isn't scary enough, does the buyer need to worry about checking for ghosts along with old plumbing?
Although the wording may vary state to state, most real estate laws require sellers to disclose known problems with the house.This includes certain "material facts" such as structural concerns, the age of the roof, leaks in the foundation, and the existence of mold. Material facts can also include other items that affect the house's value.
Items not considered material facts include personal information about a seller, such as pending foreclosure or divorce, illnesses , or the seller's reasons for moving (uh oh!). What if the seller's reason for moving involves the paranormal? Must a seller disclose whether their property is haunted? Or what if any heinous crime, murder, or suicide occurred on the property?
Death on a property may be material. In Ohio case of Laymon vs. Burns it ruled for the plaintiff and they were awarded triple damages. In a nutshell if you know about defects (including ghosts) on the property you must disclose it. “When in doubt – disclose.” says Michael Fletcher, of Griffin&Fletcher, LLP. Fletcher teaches law classes for the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors. Fletcher explains that sellers are required when they sell their property, whether they use the service of a realtor or sell their home on their own; they are to provide the buyer with a “Residential Disclosure Form”. Within that form the sellers are to list all material defects within the property. Ohio is moving forward to disclose "stigmas" attached to a property, which can include proximities to homeless shelters, whether it was scene of a violent crime or if there was a meth lab on the premises.
According to a study done at University of Cincinnati, the supernatural stigma associated with houses where murder or suicide have occurred can take 50% longer to sell, and at an average of 20% less than comparable homes.
Some homebuyers are not hindered by the macabre, especially if the gruesome past involves celebrities or legends. Indeed, ghosts can even be a selling point for some towns that rely on their dead inhabitants for tourist appeal. Cities like St. Augustine, New Orleans, and Hollywood all provide ghost tours of popular sighting sites. In St. Augustine, a legendary haunted house turned restaurant lures in diners with the prospect of seeing the house's former owner-a woman dressed in white who reportedly appears in mirrors and walks the second floor. Even homes that have witnessed notoriously grisly events have managed to sell. O. J. Simpson's home sold to an investment banker for about $4.7 million.
In the words of Michael Fletcher “When in doubt - disclose”. So in the state of Ohio, you the seller will not be "haunted" later.
Joy Naylor
Director