Living with the Dead (Part One)

The mystery of what happens after death has haunted humankind for centuries. Perhaps this is the reason for the current reality-television trend of paranormal investigation shows. Rising stars of the genre, Resident Undead Paranormal, are looking to raise the bar of paranormal investigations with straightforward presentation of evidence and innovative techniques for stirring the spirits. One of their trademark techniques is "A Ripple In Time," which involves using historical reenactment to draw out the ghosts.  

Resident Undead is YouTube’s most popular paranormal show and winner of the premier episode of the Travel Channel's "Paranormal Challenge." The current line-up of the Resident Undead team consists of Daniel Hooven, Jordan Murphy and founding member Adam Kimmell. Although Kimmell accepts his role as the group’s founder, he has said that he doesn’t like being referred to as the leader.
“Yes, I am the founder, but without Dan and Jordan, I’m nothing,” Kimmell said.

The full spectrum vortex modifies a regular camera to take
pictures in the full spectrum of light, only part of which
is visible to the human eye. Kimmell says that most of his
results show that spirits tend to be visible in the ultraviolet
spectrum.

              Kimmell said that he has always been interested in the paranormal and was dissatisfied with what he saw on popular ghost hunting shows. One night, he decided to take a camera and a voice recorder to Nazareth Cemetery in Mercer, PA. That night, he captured a ghostly apparition on his camera and a voice saying “help” on his recorder. This, he says, was the defining moment in his decision to pursue paranormal investigation.

            “I’m one of those people that once something’s there that I can’t figure out, I will pursue it further to figure it out,” Kimmell said.           

            Kimmell considers the most concrete evidence available to be electronic voice phenomena (EVP). EVP occurs when voice activated recorders capture anomalous voices where no human voices are present. One of the things that sets his team apart from others, he says, is the guarantee of capturing paranormal activity.

            “We’ve got it down to an art that we can capture EVP on the spot,” Kimmell said. “We believe that ghosts are everywhere.”

           

            Kimmell said that the most common question he gets is why investigations are almost always done at night.

            “Honestly, there’s no reason,” he said. “You can get paranormal activity during the day. We prefer the night time. It’s just more thrilling for us personally and I do feel that the activity is higher at night. With night vision, you have more of a distance to see stuff. It’s much easier to make out those shadows. With light, you’re going to have a more limited view.”

                  

Kimmell says that ghosts are everywhere, not just in
"haunted" locations. This EVP session was conducted
in a typical Slippery Rock, PA residence

            

           
             Kimmell believes that some ghosts are bound to certain locations while others are free roaming.

            “There are two kinds of people in this world when it comes to ghost hunting: those that do talk to spirits and those that don’t,” Kimmell said. “If spirits know that I’m trying to openly communicate with them, most likely they’re going to follow me because they know I’m trying to talk, compared to a person who rules it out. Why would a ghost waste their time on that person?”

            A graduate of Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania with a degree in political science, Kimmell turned down an internship in Washington D.C. to pursue paranormal investigation.

            “The way I look at it is, in life, you’d better pursue what’s fascinating to you, because life’s too short,” Kimmell said. “You can do this routine that may make you money or pursue something where you can actually have fun in life and actually die with a smile on your face. And to this day I have no regrets about the decision I made.”

Coming next week in Part Two, Adam will take us on a trip to Snyder Cemetery, the location that started it all. 

Portrait of an American Dancer




Kelley McCaa, 19, a junior at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania started her college career as a dance major but decided that dancing suited her better as a hobby than as a career.

“I actually transferred out to Oklahoma on a $14,000 scholarship and couldn’t do the dieting anymore,” McCaa said.

Kelley teaches at Jen’s Academy of Rhythm and Moves in Butler, PA. The studio hosts dance classes for all ages, which can get rather noisy as the sounds of dance and hip-hop music clash with the sounds of children’s music.

“I’ve been teaching dance for about five years, and at my current studio for two,” Kelley said.




Kelley began taking dance classes at an early age. Though she maintains a passion for her art, she chose not to pursue it as a career when the pressure to maintain body weight took a dangerous turn.

“I’ve had a lot of problems with eating disorders since I was about 12 years old,” she said. “I was addicted to diet pills for quite awhile.”

Kelley said that she began taking diet pills in excess to meet the demands of the program in Oklahoma.

“You’re not supposed to exceed four a day, and I was on 8 to 12 everyday,” she said. “I started taking them because they were telling me I had to lose weight to stay in the program, and when I got there I had to lose even more weight, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t sleep at night because I was so wired from the pills. When my body would wear off them, I would just crash. I would fall asleep for like an hour and then I’d force myself awake and take more pills to go to dance class.”


After a short time in Oklahoma, Kelley elected to return to Slippery Rock for the sake of her physical and mental health. With help from friends, she overcame the addiction to the diet pills.

“When I came back to Slippery Rock, I just forced myself to stop taking them and I had friends to support me in that,” she said. “It’s a terrible thing, especially in the environment I was in. There would be girls throwing up in the bathroom before weigh-ins, and I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to be a hundred pounds for the rest of my life, so I decided dancing for fun was better than dancing for a career. Dance teaching … that’s fun.”

Alpha Sigma Phi's Lance Armstrong Foundation Fundraiser

Alpha Sigma Phi's fundraiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation kicked off on Monday Apr. 9 in front of Bailer Library where Alpha Sigma Phi's Delta Delta chapter sold Livestrong bracelets. For every $100 raised, a randomly selected brother will shave his head.

Daniel Estes, a 20-year-old sophomore psychology major, said that the Lance Armstrong Foundation is Alpha Sigma Phi’s national cause. The Lance Armstrong Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of cancer survivors.



As of 10:30 a.m. Monday, the group had raised $22.00, according to Nathaniel Herr, 19, a freshman sports management major and philanthropy chair of Alpha Sigma Phi’s Delta Delta chapter.  The fundraiser will last until the end of the week with the brothers hitting various locations around campus.