Living with the Dead (Part Three)

Constructed in 1902, Youngstown's Calvin Center has become
a hotbed of paranormal tourism.

The Calvin Center’s ghostly legacy began to surface only a few years ago when the owner was approached by a medium group that wanted to use the building. One of the mediums told the owner that she encountered a very hostile spirit during her visit and opted not to use the building.

Even in broad daylight, the Calvin Center in Youngstown, Ohio is a spooky and imposing structure looming over the neighborhood. On a typical Thursday night, a basketball game is going on in the first floor gymnasium and a yoga class is in progress in a small room on the second floor. In spite of the activity, the Calvin Center can seem like a dark maze of halls and stairwells, making it a favorite haunt of Daniel Hooven and Adam Kimmell of Resident Undead.

Kimmell typically does not use psychics or mediums on his show but said that he is open to the opportunity.

“I think there’s some potential there, but I understand the skepticism about it,” Kimmell said. “I look at the amount of the human brain that we actually use. What if there’s a different part of the brain that isn’t turned on for you and I but these mediums and psychics have that turned on?”

Kimmell said that in all of his investigations, the Calvin Center’s basement was the only place that frightened him so badly that he almost ran out of it. During the episode, Kimmell was placed alone in the basement with a night vision camera and his paranormal detection equipment, a segment that Resident Undead calls “the quarantine.”

“I swear I saw a shadow watching me from behind my camera,” Kimmell said. “It was about two minutes until my quarantine was over. If it had been much longer, I would have bolted out of there.”

Adam recalls the Calvin Center's basement as the most frightening
location for him personally.

It is not uncommon for subjective experiences, such as feeling frightened or experiencing goose bumps, to be presented as evidence on some paranormal shows. Kimmell believes that these experiences do not qualify as evidence but may lead investigators in the right direction.

“If you go into a room where you get the goose bumps, that could tell you that maybe it’s a good time to pull out the equipment and see,” Kimmell said. “We actually have those kinds of experiences all the time, but we cut them out of our videos, because you can’t rely on that.”

Stories of the Calvin Center's hauntings have made it a hot-spot for paranormal investigation groups, a phenomenon that Daniel Hooven calls "para-tourism."

Living with the Dead (Part Two)

Snyder Cemetery is a small, lonely place, located near a dirt road in the woods of Brady, Pennsylvania. Though several generations of the Snyder family are buried here, only a few graves remain standing. Given the cemetery's long history and isolated location, it should come as no surprise that ghostly legends surround the place.

The oldest plot in Snyder Cemetery belongs to Conrad Snyder,
the family patriarch, and his wife Nancy.

These local legends sparked the curiosity of Adam Kimmell, who used Snyder Cemetery as the site of his first paranormal investigation. His curiosity about the legends of the place led to what would become the pilot episode of Kimmell's show, Resident Undead Paranormal.

While revisiting Snyder Cemetery, Adam appeared both sad and angry about the vandalism that has occurred here over the years.

"The one thing I hate is vandals," Kimmell said. "I don't understand why someone would go to a cemetery and desecrate someone's burial. Where's the honor? Where's the respect in that?"

Kimmell emphasized further that anyone with an interest in the paranormal should obey the law and respect the rules and regulations of the area they are investigating.

Due to its isolated location, Snyder Cemetery has been the
frequent target of vandalism over the years.

Kimmell said that he has learned a lot since his first investigation and that some of the techniques he used then, he would not use now. One of the techniques that he no longer employs is the use of the Ouija board. Though trademarked by Hasbro as a board game, the concept of the "spirit board" has existed for centuries.

"I still to this day do not believe that anyone should pull out a Ouija board without realizing the consequences that can come with it," Kimmell said. "A lot of people will tell that it opens up doorways to the other side that allow them to come through. I don't know personally, but I guess from what happened, I'd have to believe that."

Kimmell reflected on the criticism that comes from the skeptics of the field of paranormal investigation, but he said that turning a skeptic into a believer is his biggest reward.

"When I first started doing this, I did get a lot of criticism," Kimmell said. "My good friend, Daniel [Hooven], was probably the biggest critic I had."

Daniel Hooven, who used to tease Kimmell about his investigations, calling him "just a boy in night vision" is now the head story writer and media director for Resident Undead.

"It was just awesome seeing him convert from skeptic to believer. Your biggest critics could end up being the ones who support you down the road, so don't let the critics get at you."

Part Three will be posted on Friday, May 11th. In the third and final installment, Adam takes us to the Calvin Center in Youngstown, Ohio, a place that Adam says will turn any skeptic into a believer.

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