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Investigation # 1 - Battleground Racetrack (1880's),
(Manalapan, NJ) - July 9, 2017
So as many of my friends and paranormal supporters know, Monmouth Battleground is my favorite place to go. So much happened over that large parcel of land since the late 1600's, early 1700's through today. I'm still whittling down the number of places on the land that I want to investigate, but recently came across something I had no idea about all these years.
Once in a while I pull up the Google Maps of Monmouth Battleground to see if the satellite view reveals anything new that might be hiding in the woods of the park area. There are hiking paths all over the park that you can make out from the satellite view, a bunch near the main entrance / parking lot that I have basically ignored over the years. I have not seen any literature or talk about any fighting going on in those areas during the Battle of Monmouth, so those hiking trails had a 1 priority on a scale of 1-10.
Then a couple of months ago I am looking at the latest satellite view and this gem pops up that was never there before!
On the right hand side is the main road leading to and from Route 33 to the main visitor center. You can easily see the hiking trails going to the left. The oval that is marked "Battleground Race Track 1880's" was always clearly seen as an oval of dirt. Except Google Maps had never shown those words before! So now what looked like a simple hiking path turns out to be the site of a horse racing track in the late 1800's.
I could not find any online history about the park and am still trying to track down any information on the horse racing that went on there. It's existence would have been brief as at some point, betting on horse racing was outlawed in New Jersey and many horse tracks closed up. Even if not for that, Freehold Raceway track was only a few miles away and was well established before Battleground Race Track came into being, if the 1880's posting by Google Maps is accurate.
So I decided that on my next trip here, I would go look for the racing oval and see if there were any spirits lingering over there. Maybe there were some accidental deaths from racing, or maybe people who took care of the horses still lingered on here after their passing. It seemed like a long shot to maybe capture any evidence, but you never know unless you try!
So on July 9th, I was invited out to the Park by Sandy Foley of Twilight Passages Paranormal. She is also a fashion designer and puts out a regular magazine "Fashion Haunts Magazine". Sandy was doing a photo shoot and asked me if I wanted to tag along, shoot some live video with her and her models and talk paranormal while we were there. Great photo shoot, was interesting to watch how it was done.
After about 2 hours, the shoot was done and everybody was heading out. I, on the other hand, decided in advance to bring some equipment and see if I could go on a short hike to find this long lost race track. I went light on the equipment for this trip, just an audio recorder, the P-SB7 spirit box, a digital camera and my full spectrum camera. No sense in lugging equipment along when I really did not expect to gather any potential evidence on this trip.
On the hike over to look for the track, you walked through shaded woods with more paths that lead into them. As one looked out onto the field in the direction of where the track once stood, you can see there is no platforms or structures that still stand. I'm sure there were some back in the day, but likely to remain standing after 100+ years.
Then after about 10 minutes of hiking, I finally came across the oval track. Looks like an old path that horse and buggy might had ridden back in the day. Or jeeps from today. Most of the track looked like this, but as you followed it, you can clearly make out how it was the oval that I was walking on.
It had its turns and straight-aways that the horses would have ridden on back in the day. As I walked the track I did run my audio recorder and was astounded to catch three EVPs. As I was the only hiker in this area, its clear to me these were not the voices of another human being in range.
(Note: as always head phones and quiet area best used to hear the EVPs - first part actual audio, EVP replayed twice at end with amplification.)
BRT EVP #1 - This one is very faint am walking around the area I am guessing might have where a grandstand or benches might have been located for the folks coming to watch the races. At the 3 second mark you can hear a slight inflection of sound. On the amplified replay, you can hear a male voice sound like it is asking "wheres.....?" but I cannot make out the 2nd word.
The 2nd one was even fainter than the first, so not uploading.
The 3rd one was very good, I would label it Class A for sure!
(Picture taken with full
spectrum camera at the southern end of the track)
BRT EVP #2 - This EVP was taken as I was walking along the southern end of the track. As you look at the Google Map photo I show above, that would be the bottom of the track. Since it was in the shade and cooler in this area, I decided I would do a Spirit box session in this area. But as I was walking into the area, I catch this male voice clearly saying "Let's sit."
Next to "Help", being asked or told to "sit" seems to be one of the more popular EVPs to catch. Is this because the spirit doesn't want to walk around following us and wants us to sit to talk to us? Also funny that just a few moments later I came to stop to do a spirit box session in the area.
Of course the P-SB7 Spirit box never disappoints!
BRT SB #1 - I am explaining that the spirit box will not harm them, only for communication. When I ask if they understand this, a male voice replies - "Sure".
BRT SB #2 - Here a voice calls out the name "Tim". At the time it sounded like the voice had an accent so I asked if he was a British regular (soldier). No answer, but right after I asked this the hair on the back of neck went up and got a chill on my arms.
BRT SB #3 - About a minute later, just letting the box go to see what I might catch, somebody says to me "F.U." I didn't hear it at the time as you hear me ask about the racetrack. "F.U" replayed twice at the end.
BRT SB #4 - After some more chatter, I am explaining why I use the spirit box to communicate. Then a female voice (over the span of 9 radio frequencies) says, "They.....meant....you...". Some chatter afterward I cannot make out and I have no idea what is being communicated. Just pointing out that with the spirit box on a 250 millisecond sweep that covers 4 radio frequencies a second, should not be catching the same female voice in a full sentence over 2+ seconds if this was radio bleed from 1 radio frequency.
BRT SB #5 - After 5 1/2 minutes, I am trying to explain to them that they have changed, they are now in spirit form. After I say this at the 6 second mark, a female voice replies "Okay". I hear this and continue. I then explain that their soul / spirit continue as their body is gone. A few seconds after I ask if they understand this, a male voice comes through and says "Yes". Key point to notice in this 23 second video is did you notice all the static white noise coming through and barely a hint of background voices from the radio station snippets? Notice how these were both possible intelligent responses to my questions after I have asked? This doesn't happen too often, amazing when you do catch it!
BRT SB #6 - This little snippet catches a female voice saying "Rhea". Rhea is my guardian angel and always with me when I investigate. Though this pronunciation is different than what I use. This voice pronounced it "Ree-a", I understand it to be pronounced "Ray-a". I generally ask now if the spirits can sense her with me and if they can identify her without me providing a name. They did this time without me even asking!
BRT SB #7 - Now closing in on 9 minutes into the session was a statement that just blew me away. A male voice comes through and sounds like it is saying "Take me to light". You hear how shocked I am to hear this. I have slowed down the audio, the "to light" portion is said very fast together. I have heard spirits call for light in the past, but never being asked to take one to the light!
BRT SB #8 - As I am trying to explain what the spirit needs to do to find the light, a bunch of voices are talking over me, can't make out what is being said. In this clip I am asking them to be quiet and listen. Female voice calls out my name at the end.
BRT SB #9 - Thirty seconds later I am telling the spirits that in order to help find the light, they need to push out all the negative emotions they are still holding on to. Female voice again calls out my name after I finish speaking.
BRT SB #10 - Three minutes later after explaining about pushing out negative emotions, filling themselves up with love, joy and happiness, I get some scattered chatter that is hard to make out. Then this came through that I did not hear at the time, but it is a female voice saying "Thanks...to....Chuck". Did some spirits cross or where they happy that I explained to them what they had to do to cross into the light? Replayed 2 times, no change to audio other than to clip the ends of white noise off.
BRT SB #11 - Continuing I am telling them to fill up with love and go to the light. Then this amazing reply happens. A male voice says...."Ok.........I'm in."! His words replayed twice at the end.
Which leads to the question that if a spirit has gone into the light, how are they still communicating through the spirit box? For which I answer, I have no idea. Perhaps the portal to the light is only feet away from me. The spirit walks through, like going through a doorway, turns and speaks since he is still in range. I don't know, I wish I had the answers. The skeptic will say coincidental radio bleed, another one for the books.
BRT SB #12 - I am getting close to the end of the session. I am asking any spirits there to be patient, it will come. Just keep filling themselves with love. Then a word I have not heard in a while. At the end it sounds like a male voice saying..."need........Bishop". For those of you that haven't read my early investigations, the cemetery in Jamesburg that I started off with. Spirits there were constantly calling for the Bishop and me to find the Bishop. Even early trips to Monmouth Battleground had spirits calling for the Bishop. Seven years later I still am not any closer to solving that riddle.
So with the closing down of the box, nothing notable was mentioned for the last couple of minutes of the Session.
So without expecting to get much of anything, I had a surprising first trip over to the site of the Battleground Race Track. As for what spirits were making contact, they could have been anybody from the 1700's through today and not had anything to do with horse racing. Farmers who once used the land perhaps? So on a future trip, I'll bring a few more pieces of equipment to see if I can get any type of readings or interaction that might point to an active area.
For the most part, it was a peaceful walk and felt nothing negative or bad on my walk. For folks walking back that way after reading this blog post, no worries, I would say from the paranormal standpoint, you won't even know they are there!
