October 2006 Ghostbusters 707 follows a group of modern-day ghost hunters on a paranormal investigation Cast of paranormal researchers involved in the Napa River Inn Investigation: Michael Cline, of Hayward, director of Bay Area Paranormal Investigations (BAPI), maintains membership in the Society for Psychical Research and is enrolled in certificate program in Parapsychological Studies Virginia Solomon, of San Ramon, a BAPI researcher and sensitive, was identified by UCLA Paranormal researchers, at the age of 12, as a person with elevated psychic abilities, she holds a degree in European history Andrea Morese, of San Jose, professional psychic/sensitive, natural Clairaudient and Clairentient, lifelong student of metaphysics and natural health, assists BAPI in investigations Joyce Kennedy, of San Jose, a conscious channel/medium working professionally for 30 years, started speaking to spirits and reading minds as a child, assists BAPI in investigations Also participating, in parts of the investigation, were friends and family of the primary investigators NAPA - "Sometimes I hate being a physical medium," says psychic Joyce Kennedy, stretching her neck out. "It hurts." The San Jose-based "conscious channel" spent a recent Sunday helping out Bay Area Paranormal Investigations scan a Napa hotel looking for evidence of ghosts or other-worldly phenomenon. Legend has it, ghosts roam the hallways of the Napa River Inn, formerly an old warehouse on the banks of its namesake river in downtown Napa. At the heart of the inn's mystery is Albert Hatt Jr., a former warehouse owner and widower, who hung himself in 1912 after his wife's death. He took his own life in what's now a bakery. Can you say haunting ingredients? Enter Bay Area Paranormal Investigations (BAPI), a local organization that conducts studies on supposedly haunted locations. They take their job very seriously. "We're not Ghostbusters, in that's how we make a living," says Virginia Solomon, a BAPI researcher. "We never tell anybody we get rid of a ghost, we can only confirm that we felt something," she adds. They also try to refute possible haunts by finding a potential non- paranormal cause. "Is that cold draft an entity or a vent?" Solomon says. Finding a ghost isn't easy. "Ghosts don't walk up and shake your hand and say, 'Hi,' " Solomon says. "You figure there are probably a dozen incidents among 365 days," she says. "The odds of us catching something in one night is very small. However, if we don't try we may never get it." "This is like a needle in a haystack ... Our chance of hitting on an active night is slim," says Michael Cline, BAPI director. "We all do it because we have such a passion." On a recent Sunday, the paranormal researchers invited 707 on a ghost hunt at the Napa River Inn. Here's what happened, according to 707's experience and the BAPI report: 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Sunday Napa River Inn lobby Solomon and Cline check into the Napa River Inn. The pair has booked the hotel's two allegedly haunted rooms - 207 and 208. An elevator takes them up to the second floor, with a hallway and sitting room, filled with historic photos on walls, chandeliers, sconces, and wainscoting, with old wallpaper over it. Picture the hotel in "The Shining," on a smaller scale. Solomon, on her maiden investigation, has sketched out a family tree of the buildings' owners. "I do background to back up what the psychics say or to contradict what they say," says the history junkie. In her binder, she's also charted the phases of the moon, a complete historical account and the investigation methodology. The lunar phase that day was waning at one quarter full. Cline, a computer engineer during the day, sets up Room 208, the Capt. Hatt Suite, with cameras and an environmental data logging monitor, which checks for changes in temperature and the magnetic field - and a Geiger counter thrown in for good measure. A total of six cameras will run for about 20 hours straight during the investigation. The equipment is set up all around the room, with cameras covering every conceivable angle and a lap top monitor displaying the camera views. The group also has at its disposal a handheld EMF meter, which records the electromagnetic field. Down the hallway, Solomon enters her Room 207. She sets control items around the room, including a circa-1900 Captains hat, framed picture of Albert Hatt Jr. and photo of Robert Edward Keig, a more recent owner of the building. Control items are set as a sort of trap for the ghosts. Cameras are trained on the items and will pick up any paranormal movements. "We're looking for the phenomena of things moving or a door being opened," Cline says.   Psychic Andrea Morese's hand clenches as she describes the anguish she feels from a 'presence' in one of the object rooms at the Napa River Inn. 3:45 p.m. Sunday Lobby Solomon interviews four staff members at the hotel. Each has an experience. Mitch describes how late one night, as he picked breakfast orders off the doorknobs in the warm hotel hallways, he was suddenly hit from behind with a cold blast of air which went right through him. Emma speaks of the elevator being called in the late hours, despite no one pressing the buttons. "You take the sum total of the different things people are reporting and it becomes hard to ignore," says Cline. The hotel's haunted legacy is a tourist boon, a hotel employee says. People call in to request the "haunted rooms," she says. 4:30 p.m. Sweetie Pies Bakery Two psychics are brought in to investigate the "hot" areas of the hotel and neighboring bakery. The investigators are targeting four areas: Rooms 207 and 208, a stairway landing and Sweetie Pies Bakery. The investigators purposely didn't reveal the identity of the search location to the psychics prior to Sunday to ensure they came in "cold." "The problem is it's a documented place," Cline said. "You're never certain whether they did any research." The psychics were told in advance they were going to Napa, and one quick Google search under "Napa & haunted" finds numerous hits on the Napa River Inn. Regardless, Solomon says psychics are critical in the search. "When you look at hauntings, hauntings are done by people and people carry emotions and feelings with them into the afterlife," Solomon says. The technological gadgets only register numerical data. "How can you register despair on a meter?" she asks. First, San Jose-based psychic Andrea Morese enters Sweetie Pies Bakery, the scene of Hatt Jr.'s suicide. Morese closes her eyes in the corner of the bakery as customers innocently buy bear claws and tiramisu at the counter, and Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" plays in the background. "I don't really feel like I want to stay, as lovely as this shop is," Morese says, getting some negative energy. Other participants snap photos and record audio as she continues. "I have a distinct feeling the younger man was taking his own life and the older man caused it," Morese says, likely talking about Hatt Jr. "I'm really hot. I don't know what that's about. Was there a fire here?," Morese asks aloud, puffing out a breath of air. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say somebody hanged themselves. It's hot, I don't know if it's asphyxiation of smoke or asphyxiation from hanging himself," Morese says. There was indeed a fire in the warehouse complex, along with Hatt Jr.'s suicide.   Something about the view from this window drew psychic Andrea Morese as she was examined the room. The color red was something she referred to even before entering the rooms, and is the predominant color of the decor. 5 p.m. Bakery The group brings in Joyce Kennedy, the second psychic. She starts by feeling the brick walls with her hands, then leaning on them with her back. "There was a big collection of guns here, like old-time rifles," she says. She also senses rum, spices, "a lot of trading with Spain." The warehouse stored trading supplies. "I'm starting to sweat. This was a hot place. It was storage, but for some reason it's warm. I'm picking up a lot of energy," Kennedy says. She senses a military man. "I feel he's an active spirit, he really liked who he was at that time," Kennedy says. "He slips through this wall," she says, pointing to a brick wall in a hallway to the restroom, as she tugs her collar from the heat. He died from a bayonet wound, the psychic announces. "He didn't like that I told about the bayonet. He's pissed. He didn't want you to know," Kennedy says. "I'm sorry I said it!" she yells to the spirit. "Wow, he's angry." Kennedy also senses "Abigail," a prostitute who she says hung herself in the bakery area. She's the spirit who can be seen through the hotel in a floating white dress, Kennedy says. "Her boyfriend was killed right in front of her and she decided she couldn't go back to being a prostitute anymore and she was feeling really sad," Kennedy says, welling up. After 15 minutes, the group leaves the bakery. "It was like Abigail was in me and I was feeling everything. It was awful," Kennedy says, unwinding outside. It's unclear through the hotel's history who Abigail might be. "I've been psychic all my life. I talked to spirits since I was a kid," Kennedy says. "When I was younger I didn't tell people that I could read their minds." The researchers use the psychics' findings and weigh them against the historical information. "You don't always get verification about the psychics' data right away," Cline says. 5:30-7 p.m. Stairway, Rooms 207 and 208 Perhaps the most startling finding, Cline says, was new energy found on the hotel's staircase landing. "Both psychics picked one spot at the landing of the staircase ... as an area of special interest," Cline says. They felt a "place memory" there, where the environment holds a story, he said. From there, the group went to Room 208. The antique suite includes a canopy bed, burgundy walls, some brick, old furniture, a wet bar and an old bath tub. "The color burgundy is conducive to attracting energy," Morese says as she prepares to begin her screening. Morese gets similar feelings as the bakery and lobby. The group moves to Room 207. "It feels like he lived in the shadow of his father and could never do enough," Morese says. "I feel like there's a lot of stress here ... It's dizzying right here. My ears are ringing." She stands near the front of the bed. She steps to the right and doesn't feel the same energy. "No, right here." Morese suggests to the researchers to do a seance in the shower and an Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) session in that particular spot. Cline asks if she can communicate with the spirit and ask him if he would be OK with them communicating later. "I'm going to go through a guide. I don't go direct. I'm more protected that way," Morese says. After 15 seconds, she gets a confirmation: "My guide says he's going to try and communicate." EVP sessions are conducted in historic or psychic hot spots. "The idea is spirits will attempt to communicate with you, but you won't hear them, but it will wind up on the recorder," Cline says. "We ask specific questions and hope we get specific answers." The second psychic begins her walk-through upstairs. During her session in the sitting room, Solomon and her niece begin feeling dizzy and nauseous. It passes within five minutes.   Psychic Joyce Kennedy, from San Jose, demonstrates a choking pressure she feels on her neck as she examines Sweetie Pies in the Napa River Inn. The inn was being studied by paranormal investigators for a reported haunting. 7:30-10 p.m. Marie Calendars Dinner. 10-11 p.m. Sitting room, Rooms 207 and 208 Cline and Solomon conduct EVP sessions in Rooms 207 and 208. The group asks a series of questions, while recording audio with two recorders. They leave 15 to 20 seconds between questions. The group pronounces:    1. They name themselves and invite the spirits to join the conversation.    2. There anything you'd like to say to us?    3. What year is it?    4. What is your name?    5. How do you feel?    6. How do you feel about us being here?    7. What is your occupation?    8. Repeat question No. 2. Nothing turns up in both sessions. 11 p.m.-midnight Sitting room, hallways Cline and Solomon discuss the day's events in the upstairs sitting room, watching the hallways for any unusual activity. What may seem spooky to some, is part of the job for Cline. "I only get scared where there are scary living people," Cline says. Midnight-4 a.m. Rooms 207 and 208 At 12:20 p.m., Cline's wife Reynosa performs an EVP session in Room 208 with no results. The rest of the team sleeps. 4-5:30 a.m. Room 208 Solomon and her niece wake up suddenly in Room 207. Solomon sits up in bed and takes a photograph, which shows nothing. The control items remain in their spots, the cameras show nothing. Her niece says she woke up to the sound of ice clinking in glasses. Was it a dream, they ask. 5:30-10 a.m. Hotel The researchers fall back asleep and wake up for breakfast, where they review notes. They check out at 10 a.m. Following days... Post-Napa River Inn, the group painstakingly combs through the audio, video, photographs and handwritten notes. No hard evidence appears, Cline says. "That's why general science doesn't accept it. It can't be controlled," Cline says. Based on the numerous accounts told to them by staff, Cline says the hotel remains a "place of interest." It's not the group's first paranormal rodeo. Bay Area Paranormal Investigations try and perform an investigation once a month. The last one was held at the Ione Hotel in Ione, east of Stockton. The group found no evidence except a personal experience by one investigator who left his computer bag zipped up, but when he picked it up later the bag was open and his items spilled everywhere. Solomon knows there are skeptics. She married one. "With all my activities I do, my husband thinks this is the strangest," Solomon laughs. "Why am I out trying to find a ghost? I hear it's there and I want to see one for myself..." - E-mail Matthias Gafni at tbone@code707.com or call 553-6825. Copyright 2007 Andrea Morese