Big River Paranormal’s investigation of the Cedar Creek Grist Mill during the night of Saturday, Oct. 14 into the early morning hours of Sunday, Oct. 15 yielded spooky results for the believers and the curious.
Four recordings of electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) were included as evidence in their investigation.
In two recordings, the sound of apparent humming made seemingly close to audio recorders with investigators in the room could be heard.
“We spent a lot of time as a team going over those and just kind of listening to it and trying to figure out what it really could be, and we came to a conclusion like none of us were humming,” director Jason Hassler said of the particular recordings. “It clearly sounds like a woman, and when you’re listening to it, it sounds like it’s closer to the recorder than we are.”
Two other recordings had voices on them, one sounding like a voice says, “Nicky is here,” and the other sounding like a whisper says, “I love her.”
“You never really can say 100% for sure this is a ghost because we don’t even know for sure ghosts exist,” Hassler said. “We have no proof of that, but we just kind of go with ’we couldn’t find a reasonable explanation,’ or, you know, like a lot of times nobody was in the room so now we’re hearing voices with nobody in the room, so that’s definitely not normal to have someone talking with no one in the room.”
To view a full list of photos and hear three of the EVP recordings from the investigation, visit bigriverparanormal.com/cedar-creek-grist-mill-woodland-wa-10-14-2023.html.
Last month’s visit was the fourth time Big River Paranormal has investigated the Cedar Creek Grist Mill, and Hassler said previous results have all been similar, adding that the mill is an interesting location to investigate.
Hassler first gained his interest in the paranormal investigation world after growing up in what he says was a haunted house. His paranormal investigations now are a family affair as his daughter, Mariah, is the assistant director.
“It’s been a lot of fun watching her grow with the team and becoming more comfortable with her role as assistant director, and she’s really grown with public speaking and all that,” Hassler said.
The Big River Paranormal team of Portland and Southwest Washington have members throughout the region and conduct investigations on a monthly basis, Hassler said. To inquire about becoming a team member, visit bigriverparanormal.com/team-member-application.html. Hassler said a previous investigation was some of the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis, Oregon, after which the team shared their findings in a presentation on campus.
Hassler said Big River Paranormal’s mission is to help people find logical explanations for what they’re experiencing and help them feel safer in their space, he said.
“There’s a lot of different variables,” Hassler said as to what can count as a logical explanation.
From electromagnetic fields, to certain medications, Hassler said many logical explanations can be attributed to certain situations in private residences.
When it comes to ruling whether an EVP recording is worth using as evidence, Hassler and the other investigators with Big River Paranormal follow the rule of “when in doubt, throw it out.”
“Usually what I do is I share it with the team and say, ‘Hey, do you guys remember this? Could it possibly have been one of you,’” Hassler said. “We pass it around, we talk about it, and a lot of times we go, ‘Oh yeah, that was me,’ or, ‘Oh that sounds like somebody else,’ or whatever. We’re able to rule most of the things out.”
For more information about Big River Paranormal, visit bigriverparanormal.com or on Facebook by searching for Big River Paranormal.
