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Nancy Bradley

Tahoe Tessy and a piece of Norway

November 26, 2009 | Comment icon 1 comment
Image Credit: Nancy Bradley
The frantic call came into the office. AGAIN! It’s about Lake Tahoe in Northern California, clean and beautiful. And yet, people continue to insist they have seen a dragon-like creature, not unlike the Loch Ness Monster, within the depths of the lake. This latest caller had pretty much the same story as the others that come into our office, addressing the issue by phone, in person, through snail mail and on email. Its’ always the same, “There is a strange creature we saw when boating or on the shore of the lake. Can you come and see what it is?” Over the years we have felt that there clearly could be something in the lake as no one to this date has been able to figure the exact depth of the water. Who knows? There very well could be an ancient like creature that lives there. Of course for there to be one creature, there would have to be several swimming around in order to keep the species alive. There have been so many sightings over the years that the creature has been given a name, TAHOE TESSY. But those that inquire have come to the right place. ROBERT REPPERT, owner and founder of GOLD RUSH GHOSTS INTERNATIONAL PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS has a leg up on other paranormal groups for this type of investigation. He is a seasoned scuba diver and internationally known underwater photographer. We took a day or two to clear our schedules and packed up once again for Lake Tahoe. We are on the case!

Make no mistake it gets cold this time of year in Tahoe. We were lucky enough to get there just under the weather and before the first snowfall which happened last week. We knew this investigation would be against time and elements and we wanted to pack as much as we could into our travel. And so we decided to make it a long weekend investigation, searching the area for as many possible paranormal experiences as we could find before exiting the mountain until spring.

First and foremost we wanted to take another look at the interesting accounts of ghosts and spirits in the Emerald Bay part of Lake Tahoe, the Vikingsholm Castle. Built in 1929, the castle is known to house ghosts and spirits of the past. We had been here before, and the stories continue to filter in to our office about sightings. Lovely and imposing, the castle was built as a summer home for Laura Josephine Knight from Galena, Ill. Originally from Norway, it was to remind her of her beloved fjords. The castle was built of Scandinavian architecture and to her direct specifications.

Even before the castle stood on the grounds, reports were about people seeing Indians and phantom deer in and around the site. Rather remote, the stories went down in history as legend and hallucinations. Just how many people saw them we do not know, records are sparse, but we from the paranormal group also had seen spirit animals around the castle.

Interesting.

Our investigations of the Castle began in 1999 when a couple from Bay Shore New York, contacted our office after having a mystifying encounter at the castle.

“We were on our way down the trail to the castle on a summer tour with our two children” the father told us. “Our kids mentioned to us that there was a man following us that was not on the group tour. He was very close, kind of ‘in your space’, if you know what I mean, and it was quite uncomfortable”. The children, then 7 and 9 years old complained about the man. “I turned around and looked him in the eye. The whole family saw him.”

The husband was anxious to relate their experience. “Suddenly the man passed us with very brisk steps and disappeared. Thinking back” he said “Before he vanished he appeared to look filmy or dirty. And then he was gone. When we first saw him he was as normal and plain as we are looking at you.” he said.

Despite the freaky occurrences, the family said they finished the tour. When leaving, they looked up and saw the same man through a circular window in the castle. “A woman in a long gown was on the premises, too” he told GOLD RUSH GHOSTS. “She had on a plain gown, white, that went to the ground. The two figures stared at us, and we left quickly.”

Well, as you know, our goal at GRG is to expose fraudulent statements and practices and supposed stories of hauntings when there are none. Our motto is; “Where science meets the paranormal.” So at that investigation we took his story as ‘perhaps’, and we investigated the site completely, armed with infra-red cameras, heat detectors, spirit meters that detect and measures ghost activity, the FLIR and just about everything else we could carry with us. Surprisingly, we were amazed to find that the family very well could have had an encounter. Around the grounds the meters registered between .01-2.8 EMF and a 15 degree difference on temperature meters. We were followed by a little white dog in spirit and a slender woman who was talking to her pet. In the room where we were told the entities looked out the window was exciting for the investigation. Meters jumped to 9.6EMF! and a spirit footprint was recorded with the FLIR. A man appeared before one of our investigators and said “I am from the sea”, and then he disappeared. Ah ha! Maybe these were not the ghosts or spirits the father told us about, but we were on to something.

On this most recent investigation a figure of a tall woman also raced past us. She appeared as if something was pressing and she had to get to the castle right away. She had a basket with her, and she carried it with great care in both hands so nothing would fall out. She kept yelling for a man who was right in front of her, asking him to slow down. On a previous investigation the man’s name was revealed as Leed Gunnerson. They turned the corner and disappeared. Well, obviously entities are still about at the Castle, and we noted for our group and those interested that the Castle is a good example of residual energy. Unfortunately we were later to find, for this trip and all the pictures we took, something had drained the batteries in our cameras while on the premises. Sad but true, and not uncommon in ghost work. You can check out Vikingsholm Castle on Google, or you can call them directly at: (530) 525-9533.

After a couple of hours there, we went on to Lake Tahoe proper. Beautiful as always. We set gear at the far-east side of the lake, Reppert and his men got into their wetsuits. They had more courage than me. They took the time to ready and check their camera equipment before heading into the water. We are all aware from previous dives that the deeper you go the more likely you are to get activity. If there was such a creature chances are we would encounter it in the depths. On the shore line waters they encountered a filmy substance that seemed to hang in the water, but equipment readings were almost non-existent. There is a shelf that ends in the water and you get to very deep quickly. We watched them disappear from view. Reppert reported that it is at about 100 yards from the shore the bottom of the lake falls off the shelf. He reported that the depth dropped very fast after that point. Unfortunately after repeated action, the team was not finding evidence of any large creatures and they decided to surface. After a few dives it was clear that the better course of action would be by boat. On this part of the project the team was using a higher end sonar fish finder to try and locate any signs of a large object in the lake while using a grid search pattern. The sonar can broadcast side scan topography as well as floating objects. At several times in the search, the sonar projected images of larger fish and a couple intriguing items at deep depths but not the size we were looking for. The team was well into the search when the weather decided how the search would end.

It started to snow. Hard! There would be no more investigations for us at Tahoe until spring. We will let you know about the next installment.

Amazingly for a country setting with a lot of trees, even in fall when leaves are falling and there are twigs breaking, wind and weather kicking up, we noticed from all our many visits that you can depend on more paranormal activity when things become very quiet. You will notice the change right up when there are ghosts about. There will all of a sudden appear to be nothing moving, there are no birds sing, it becomes a word that Reppert uses which is…‘dead air.’ This is certainly to me one of the most spooky, off-the-wall investigative things to know and remember if you are ghost hunting when visiting Lake Tahoe.

And Tessy? She/he/they can be most exasperating, and elusive! We have none to report on seeing them this trip. Again, we will keep you posted.

Copyright @ NANCY BRADLEY 2009 All rights reserved.

More about The Celebrities Psychic NANCY BRADLEY can be found at:
WWW.NANCYBRADLEY.ORG

More about ROBERT REPPERT and GOLD RUSH GHOSTS INTERNATIONAL PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS can be found at:

WWW.GOLDRUSHGHOSTS.COM[!gad]The frantic call came into the office. AGAIN! It’s about Lake Tahoe in Northern California, clean and beautiful. And yet, people continue to insist they have seen a dragon-like creature, not unlike the Loch Ness Monster, within the depths of the lake. This latest caller had pretty much the same story as the others that come into our office, addressing the issue by phone, in person, through snail mail and on email. Its’ always the same, “There is a strange creature we saw when boating or on the shore of the lake. Can you come and see what it is?” Over the years we have felt that there clearly could be something in the lake as no one to this date has been able to figure the exact depth of the water. Who knows? There very well could be an ancient like creature that lives there. Of course for there to be one creature, there would have to be several swimming around in order to keep the species alive. There have been so many sightings over the years that the creature has been given a name, TAHOE TESSY. But those that inquire have come to the right place. ROBERT REPPERT, owner and founder of GOLD RUSH GHOSTS INTERNATIONAL PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS has a leg up on other paranormal groups for this type of investigation. He is a seasoned scuba diver and internationally known underwater photographer. We took a day or two to clear our schedules and packed up once again for Lake Tahoe. We are on the case!

Make no mistake it gets cold this time of year in Tahoe. We were lucky enough to get there just under the weather and before the first snowfall which happened last week. We knew this investigation would be against time and elements and we wanted to pack as much as we could into our travel. And so we decided to make it a long weekend investigation, searching the area for as many possible paranormal experiences as we could find before exiting the mountain until spring.

First and foremost we wanted to take another look at the interesting accounts of ghosts and spirits in the Emerald Bay part of Lake Tahoe, the Vikingsholm Castle. Built in 1929, the castle is known to house ghosts and spirits of the past. We had been here before, and the stories continue to filter in to our office about sightings. Lovely and imposing, the castle was built as a summer home for Laura Josephine Knight from Galena, Ill. Originally from Norway, it was to remind her of her beloved fjords. The castle was built of Scandinavian architecture and to her direct specifications.

Even before the castle stood on the grounds, reports were about people seeing Indians and phantom deer in and around the site. Rather remote, the stories went down in history as legend and hallucinations. Just how many people saw them we do not know, records are sparse, but we from the paranormal group also had seen spirit animals around the castle.

Interesting.

Our investigations of the Castle began in 1999 when a couple from Bay Shore New York, contacted our office after having a mystifying encounter at the castle.

“We were on our way down the trail to the castle on a summer tour with our two children” the father told us. “Our kids mentioned to us that there was a man following us that was not on the group tour. He was very close, kind of ‘in your space’, if you know what I mean, and it was quite uncomfortable”. The children, then 7 and 9 years old complained about the man. “I turned around and looked him in the eye. The whole family saw him.”

The husband was anxious to relate their experience. “Suddenly the man passed us with very brisk steps and disappeared. Thinking back” he said “Before he vanished he appeared to look filmy or dirty. And then he was gone. When we first saw him he was as normal and plain as we are looking at you.” he said.

Despite the freaky occurrences, the family said they finished the tour. When leaving, they looked up and saw the same man through a circular window in the castle. “A woman in a long gown was on the premises, too” he told GOLD RUSH GHOSTS. “She had on a plain gown, white, that went to the ground. The two figures stared at us, and we left quickly.”

Well, as you know, our goal at GRG is to expose fraudulent statements and practices and supposed stories of hauntings when there are none. Our motto is; “Where science meets the paranormal.” So at that investigation we took his story as ‘perhaps’, and we investigated the site completely, armed with infra-red cameras, heat detectors, spirit meters that detect and measures ghost activity, the FLIR and just about everything else we could carry with us. Surprisingly, we were amazed to find that the family very well could have had an encounter. Around the grounds the meters registered between .01-2.8 EMF and a 15 degree difference on temperature meters. We were followed by a little white dog in spirit and a slender woman who was talking to her pet. In the room where we were told the entities looked out the window was exciting for the investigation. Meters jumped to 9.6EMF! and a spirit footprint was recorded with the FLIR. A man appeared before one of our investigators and said “I am from the sea”, and then he disappeared. Ah ha! Maybe these were not the ghosts or spirits the father told us about, but we were on to something.

On this most recent investigation a figure of a tall woman also raced past us. She appeared as if something was pressing and she had to get to the castle right away. She had a basket with her, and she carried it with great care in both hands so nothing would fall out. She kept yelling for a man who was right in front of her, asking him to slow down. On a previous investigation the man’s name was revealed as Leed Gunnerson. They turned the corner and disappeared. Well, obviously entities are still about at the Castle, and we noted for our group and those interested that the Castle is a good example of residual energy. Unfortunately we were later to find, for this trip and all the pictures we took, something had drained the batteries in our cameras while on the premises. Sad but true, and not uncommon in ghost work. You can check out Vikingsholm Castle on Google, or you can call them directly at: (530) 525-9533.

After a couple of hours there, we went on to Lake Tahoe proper. Beautiful as always. We set gear at the far-east side of the lake, Reppert and his men got into their wetsuits. They had more courage than me. They took the time to ready and check their camera equipment before heading into the water. We are all aware from previous dives that the deeper you go the more likely you are to get activity. If there was such a creature chances are we would encounter it in the depths. On the shore line waters they encountered a filmy substance that seemed to hang in the water, but equipment readings were almost non-existent. There is a shelf that ends in the water and you get to very deep quickly. We watched them disappear from view. Reppert reported that it is at about 100 yards from the shore the bottom of the lake falls off the shelf. He reported that the depth dropped very fast after that point. Unfortunately after repeated action, the team was not finding evidence of any large creatures and they decided to surface. After a few dives it was clear that the better course of action would be by boat. On this part of the project the team was using a higher end sonar fish finder to try and locate any signs of a large object in the lake while using a grid search pattern. The sonar can broadcast side scan topography as well as floating objects. At several times in the search, the sonar projected images of larger fish and a couple intriguing items at deep depths but not the size we were looking for. The team was well into the search when the weather decided how the search would end.

It started to snow. Hard! There would be no more investigations for us at Tahoe until spring. We will let you know about the next installment.

Amazingly for a country setting with a lot of trees, even in fall when leaves are falling and there are twigs breaking, wind and weather kicking up, we noticed from all our many visits that you can depend on more paranormal activity when things become very quiet. You will notice the change right up when there are ghosts about. There will all of a sudden appear to be nothing moving, there are no birds sing, it becomes a word that Reppert uses which is…‘dead air.’ This is certainly to me one of the most spooky, off-the-wall investigative things to know and remember if you are ghost hunting when visiting Lake Tahoe.

And Tessy? She/he/they can be most exasperating, and elusive! We have none to report on seeing them this trip. Again, we will keep you posted.

Copyright @ NANCY BRADLEY 2009 All rights reserved.

More about The Celebrities Psychic NANCY BRADLEY can be found at:
WWW.NANCYBRADLEY.ORG

More about ROBERT REPPERT and GOLD RUSH GHOSTS INTERNATIONAL PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS can be found at:

WWW.GOLDRUSHGHOSTS.COM Comments (1)


Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by cluey 15 years ago
i have heard of this before.........could be anything.....personally...if there where any overly large creatures in there......it would have been sighted by now.........i can't image it's camera shy


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