Apparition Picture?

[pinkquarternote]

Last summer I stayed in Ste. Genevieve, MO as part of a field school for my program. The town itself is supposedly the oldest town west of the Mississippi River with lots of French and Spanish history, as the original location was founded in 1837. The town is drenched in history, and like any other town, not all the stories that come out of it are squeaky clean. We heard stories of lynchings, murders, fights... and with all this my friends and I started trying to find out if there was any reported paranormal activity. Town lore pointed to Memorial Cemetery in the heart of the town; on only a TINY plot of land, there were up to 4,000 slaves, Native Americans, Revolutionary War soldiers, and Cholera victims crammed in. After some poking around the edge of the locked cemetery at night, we met the caretaker. He told us his stories: half-body apparitions walking around, german voices in his own house, etc. This place was RIPE with activity, according to him. He then gave us the KEY to the cemetery and invited us to come back the next night. We contacted the police and got their approval and knowledge of our plan and my professor's permission. (If you ever have the chance to spend the night in the cemetery of the oldest town west of the Mississippi, YOU GO FOR IT.)

The next night we showed up: four of us ready to investigate. My class TA was pretty well-versed in paranormal research and had a very good digital camera that he used throughout the night. We started by talked out loud in the cemetery to spirits and I felt like an idiot speaking to no one I could see but it didn't feel so crazy later. We slowly walked as a pack around the cemetery, speaking out loud as we went. My TA took hundreds of flash pictures. We had a ghost app his paranormal investigator friend recommended and we asked several times for names and got immediate responses. I remember "Daniel" as one of them. Several hours in, my TA's camera that had been working all night started messing up. It was taking photos without him pressing any buttons. When he asked for whoever was messing with his camera to stop, it did. We then went to the bottom of the "ravine" as we called it, where someone said the Native Americans and slaves were buried. I think all of us just had a sense that we should not go in there so I asked if we could just take a shot looking in.

This is that photo: It's below street level and I don't remember seeing any lights. This one I'm a little wary of because I don't know a lot about cameras or exposure, etc. but I thought I would share anyway.

The other is one we took the first night just looking in to the cemetery. It would have been on the hill on the top of the "ravine." We went back the next day and tried to find something in that spot that would have made this shape but couldn't find anything. Keep in mind that this is a picture of a picture on a laptop that is closely zoomed in. I wish I had the original. To me, I see a man standing in a suit-like outfit with a hat on to the left of the finger pointing.

Anyway, just wanted to share. I highly recommend visiting Ste. Genevieve, MO if you are ever in the area. It's a great town besides the hauntings!

Edited May 13, 2015 by pinkquarternote

[gillmanjoe]

Are you in the historic preservation department at SEMO?

lmao, when I was in the program that's where the summer field school was at.

I never went though

really hard to tell what anything is because the photos are blurry

Edited May 14, 2015 by gillmanjoe

[pinkquarternote]

Are you in the historic preservation department at SEMO?

lmao, when I was in the program that's where the summer field school was at.

I never went though

really hard to tell what anything is because the photos are blurry

Yes, I am! That's so crazy.

[freetoroam]

Got to love those cemetery caretakers.

TBO, if I had relatives buried there, i would not be too happy knowing the care taking is handing the keys over to a group of school kids, anyone in fact. They are locked for a reason! Sorry, something is amiss here.

[gillmanjoe]

.

Edited May 14, 2015 by gillmanjoe

[gillmanjoe]

I was the HPA secretary 2 semesters ago, I left the group because I changed my major half way through the year. I was in the HP program for 2 and half years. Became too architectural because of Hoffman.

[Podo]

The pictures are too poor quality to really figure anything out. Any chance of uploading better ones?