March, 2013
by John Evanoff
This column relates to a piece I wrote last year in
July on some odd ghostly things going on in Robb Canyon in west
Reno. Things like this interest us because so many people have encountered
activity like this before, especially in certain areas of the Truckee
Meadows. What is about to be detailed below by a reader who found
my column interesting, fits the descriptions of those who have also
viewed the same and many more events throughout the last four decades
in Robb Canyon. In Reno and Northern Nevada, you only have to go
a few steps to find a lot of history and many interesting things
have transpired to create a lot of excitement in certain quarters
when it comes to things we’ve heard of or seen before.
At any rate, below is the actual journal of Don S.
who with the help of his girlfriend Rhiannon and other friends put
together a study group designed to find out whether there were really
paranormal activities going on in certain areas of Reno and Northern
Nevada. What they found with a lot of scientific tools and patience
ended up being quite an adventure for them and what investigations
they have concluded will leave you with goose-bumps or at the least,
leave more for you to wonder about. They also included a few pictures
you may find unsettling or at least a bit surprising.
To set this up, I will start with a paragraph from
my article last year and then move directly into Don’s written
journal. You can read more of my original article by going to this
link: http://visitreno.com/evanoff/july-12.php
Tales of the bodies of three men and a woman being
discovered in Robb Canyon in west Reno in the early 1970’s
led to reports years later of ghosts trying to coax people to feel
their pain and discover their murderers. The murders were to some
accounts never made public or at never solved. The entire canyon
site and the nearby city park named Rainbow Ridge Park have become
somewhat famous for haunting reports, sightings, disturbing noises
including blood curdling screams and strange lights. Paranormal
activity in the area has been investigated by experts and scientists
for many years up and down Robb Canyon and the surrounding hills
and all have come away with personal accounts of frightening events
including many narratives of overwhelming dread upon entering the
canyon at night. Reports still come from residents in the area and
a few reality television shows have spent time in the area, all
coming away with chronicles of actual sightings including some of
the so called Shadow People.
Don S. begins his Journal:
When we first heard of Robb Canyon, it was through
word of mouth… we, my girlfriend / investigating partner Rhiannon
and I, decided that we would go by and see if there was anything
to the story. We really had no clue what we were doing nor had any
idea about the proper ‘stuff’ to have on an adventure
such as this…
As a brief background, I have been into ‘ghosts’
all my life. I am NOT a ghost hunter, tracker, or the like. Perhaps
a Forensic Paranormal Researcher / Investigator / Consultant sounds
better, albeit a bit wordy… I consider myself a “Survivor
man / Long Island Medium / Ghost Adventurer / Dead Files”
person all rolled into one…
Although I have never used any equipment to track,
‘hunt’ or otherwise verify the existence of the paranormal,
I have always been very aware of their presence around me. I have
never had the need to ‘verify’ the existence of the
paranormal with any devices since I could relate to the people around
me too many specific details to question my abilities / gift / talent…
what have you
Our first excursion was, as I stated, essentially
blind deaf and dumb. We had no clue (with this equipment) what we
were doing, where we were going and even how to do ‘investigate’.
(besides it was Rhiannons very first adventure with the paranormal)
It was a cold October evening, about ten at night, when we arrived
at Robb Canyon. We made our way down to the bottom of the canyon
via the path through the park. We took out our (professional ghost
hunting) digital devices, A recorder and A camera, and proceeded
to capture every bush, tree, and bunny rabbit and bump in the night
that we could. All we were missing were cool jumpsuits and plasma
backpacks…
Our first night was fairly uneventful. We heard some things…
thought we had captured some pictures on the digital camera, but
that was about it. Turned out we had some fantastic pictures…
of orbs! (read DUST) We poured over our evidence again hoping that
we had actually caught something… little did we know that
on our first outing we did get something… a strange figure
manifesting in the pathway ahead of us. Upon closer examination,
a couple of those ‘orbs’ looked like they had faces
in them… were our minds playing tricks? Weird…
We made subsequent trips, about every two weeks due
to conflicting schedules, to gather more evidence and hopefully
capture something! We were a bit zealous and full of ambition (and
hot cocoa… it was COLD in that canyon.) Our follow up excursions
continued to provided tidbits of tantalizing information. We had
an Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) here and there, a picture of
a shadow / mist / something occasionally… just enough to keep
us intrigued and coming back for more…but it wasn’t
until late December that we had our ‘big break’ We returned
to our specific spot along the path that seemed to produce the most
interesting results. It was at this place that we captured (the
specific paranormal terminology) our first real picture. This picture
appeared to have FOUR spirits in a blue-ish mist. (Has there ever
been a picture with four spirits captured in it? EVER?) Upon close
examination, it appeared to be three male spirits and one female.
During our research and according to the Robb Canyon legend, there
were (mutilated) remains of three male and one female found in this
area back in the 70’s.
We were hooked!
We went on the net and found various implements of
investigation… IR Camera, another digital camera, another
digital recorder… learned all we could about Robb Canyon and
different methods for taking better ‘ghost’ pictures
and EVP’s… All of the sudden we became a “paranormal
investigating crew (of two) and decided our name would incorporate
the acronym of TIME, Timeless Investigations Memories Explored.
Timelessinvestigations.com. (our decision was based on the terminology
of paranormal investigators and ghost hunters being WAY overdone…)
We gathered all of our new tools of the trade and went to Virginia
City where we attempted to gather even more evidence with pictures
and EVP’s… (one of our best EVP’s was recorded
in Room 11 of the Silver Queen. Miss Rose, the prostitute who reportedly
committed suicide in the bathtub, clearly states “Think of
me, Trust Camera” when I asked if she was there… (We
were actually laying in bed at home when I was listening to the
recording for the first time… I literally jumped out of bed
when I heard that voice!) We have numerous EVP’s from that
night at the hotel and while at the Old Washoe Club. Absolutely
incredible to try and wrap my mind around the fact that we had recorded
voices from the other side… There are also voices of a male
and female discussing how to explain to us that they are ghosts…
a lady from the Washoe Club answering me as I ‘talked’
to her and she continues to explain how lonely she is… We
were really getting into our new found hobby with these incredible
pieces of evidence. But who would believe us? We kept quiet about
what we were doing until January when we had gathered numerous EVP’s
and photographs and decided to create a website to share what we
had discovered with other people… (our current collection
stands at approx 30 hours of EVP’s and approx 2000 photos
gathered since Oct.) Even then we were hesitant because of the ‘ghost
adventures’ ‘paranormal investigator’ ‘dead
files’ stigmata and the potential of “non-believers”
and “de-bunkers” who would certainly do all they could
to disprove our evidence…
Our desire to continue these investigations have led
us back to Robb Canyon and Virginia City (we are members of the
Old Washoe Club) and the Old Hilltop Cemetery / Old Guard of the
Republic Cemetery in Reno numerous times. We have a few interesting
pictures the Hilltop Cemetery as well… (I have another great
EVP from the Old Guard cemetery where I explain that I am a veteran
and a voice responds that he will “inform the General”.
Our last (impromptu) investigation led us to Donner Park, where
the famed Donner Party camped near Truckee, where we not only took
a self portrait with some unexplained figure in the back ground
but also two fairly clear EVP’s stating “I’ll
kill you” and (when I asked for proof of someone being there
with me) “…why don’t we eat you…”
Yes, I have that EVP…
Timeless Investigations will continue to explore various locations
in our area; invitations to your location are welcome by the way,
and we will let you know who shows up…
http://timelessinvestigations.com/index.html
generalinfo@timelessinvestigations.com
Respectfully, yours in TIME,
Don and Rhiannon
The photos below were taken by Don S. and have not been retouched
or altered in any way.
Click on an image to enlarge. |
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The first picture appears to be a person sitting with legs
stretched out in front, leaning on his right arm against something
like a wheel well... or fender shaped object |
The second picture shows two figures along the right side
in the mist. There are two torsos with skeletal faces. You may
also notice other figures in the picture but I was amazed when
I saw those two particular faces / torsos. |
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The third is what I call "little creepy guy" There
is a body, a face of sorts, and a clear claw / hand that is
reaching out... |
The fourth shows something on the right, but if you look closely
you can see a 'person' kneeling in the pathway. I can see a
hand with fingers, an arm, torso, and face. It seems to be looking
at whatever is on the right side. |
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