Devil in the Delta

by Rich Newman

  [contents]

  3

  The Initial Visit

  I met the folks from the Mississippi paranormal team at their local McDonald’s. They were wolfing down Big Macs and mentally preparing for an evening of intense investigation. Once the hellos were taken care of, they promptly told me that I should use the bathroom at the restaurant since the one at the Martin home was in extremely poor condition—and that I should fuel up for a long and grueling evening of paranormal activity.

  As I worked my way through my meal, they warned me that Tim had apparently had another episode with possession and that I should be on my toes. The entire Mississippi team would be accompanying me for the evening (Terri, Patricia, Tom, and Blake), so if it became necessary to restrain Tim, we would certainly be able to do so.

  Since Tom was the biggest guy in their group (and much bigger than me), I pulled him to one side and mentioned, “You may have to play tough guy tonight if Tim starts acting up. I plan to confront him about all this possession stuff—and I don’t want it ruining the investigation.”

  He nodded, but I knew he had to be wondering why I was taking this approach. Provincial thinking was that possession was beyond the control of those being afflicted. Instinct told me, however, that this was most likely not the case with Tim. I was convinced that he was either faking the incidents to get attention or he was paranoid and panicking. I was just hoping that telling Tim to buck up and be strong might be enough to keep him from freaking out.

  Once we finished up at the restaurant, we drove the twenty minutes or so into the “boonies” to the Martin trailer. And when I say boonies, I mean boonies. The trailer was located against a massive expanse of forest, far from what could even be termed as a “small town.” This was about as rural as we could get.

  During the ride, I was told that the vast, wooded area surrounding the Martin trailer was once a popular place for local lynchings and other unsavory crimes around the turn of the century. It was safe to say that this was probably not mentioned in any of the local travel brochures …

  Since we were speaking about crimes, I asked Terri if they had managed to speak to the local sheriff’s office to validate the claims of mysterious stones hitting their squad cars. She said they had not, so I made a mental note to make the call myself upon my return home. If even one deputy could confirm that he/she had witnessed rocks being thrown at a squad car—and nobody had been seen or found in the vicinity doing it—it would go a long way toward corroborating Joanne’s story.

  Soon, we found ourselves winding our way down an old gravel road and then up an old, washed-out driveway to the Martin property. Despite several warnings—and a generous mental picture—words could not have prepared me for the level of destruction at this home.

  Signs of the family’s old, original homestead were still on the property, including a ramshackle shed that stood just outside the trailer and rusted pieces of old tin roof strewn about the yard that had once protected an early family home. The trailer itself had also seen better days, but seemed structurally sound—though the gaping hole where a window once was said otherwise.

  As I made my way across the yard, I paused to snap a quick photo of a broken television set that lay in the yard. I assumed this was the TV that had smoked, then exploded, during the largest episode of paranormal activity in the trailer. Terri had mentioned that Tim had thrown the set through a window (where the gaping hole now was?) to get it out of the home. I stopped and knelt in the grass to examine it more closely.

  There was a perfect round hole in the television’s screen with cracks radiating out as if it had, indeed, exploded as the Martins claimed—or like the screen had, perhaps, been shot by a small gun. I peered inside the hole and noted that there were signs that a fire had burned within the television, too. Black and burnt tubes, wires, etc., were still present behind the screen. After I was finished with the TV, I stood and took a long look around the property.

  In addition to the shed and a few random household items scattered about the yard, there was also what appeared to be a long-abandoned car in the driveway. It was apparent that Joanne and her family had had some hard times—and that ghosts were not the only concern they lived with in the wilds of Mississippi. I hoped the interior of the trailer would prove to be different than the rustic exterior. And as soon as I walked into the trailer, I realized it was, indeed, much different: the inside was far worse.

  With the help of Terri and Patricia, Joanne had cleaned up a bit in the living room to prepare for my visit, but the rest of the trailer stood in a state of massive disarray. Several rooms contained mountains of random clothing, junk, and papers; the kitchen held the remains of numerous meals past; and the carpets were tracked with months of stains and mildew—and these were not the rooms that had been, reportedly, trashed by the entity! With the exception of the living room, there wasn’t an organized area in the entire place.

  I mentally noted the closest tree to the house, intending to take the group’s advice to dodge the bathrooms there. As I looked around, I was suddenly saddened by the knowledge that two young girls were living in this place. How could they stand it? Patricia then called from the kitchen for me; the family was ready to meet the new investigator.

  After entering, I was quickly introduced to Joanne, Tim, and Sarah. The two girls, Julie and Katie, were not present for my investigation per my request. Joanne was in her late fifties, while Tim and Sarah were in their twenties. Sarah said little to nothing during my entire visit, though she did back up many of the claims made concerning activity there with a brief nod. Tim, on the other hand, had plenty to say.

  He spoke about the ghosts, about the area in general, and about any other random subject that came to mind. Words spilled out of his mouth in a quick jumble that instantly made me think that he was a drug addict waiting for his next fix. As he spoke, I found it hard to make eye contact with him, so as my eyes drifted, I noticed a shakily scrawled, prison-blue tattoo glaring from his arm with the blazon “Hot Boy” written there. I would later learn that he did, indeed, get this in jail. Apparently he was quite popular there …

  Terri and Patricia then gave me a thorough tour of the trailer that culminated with a walk through the master bedroom. Not wanting to alter anything, the room still stood in the state of disaster that resulted from the entity’s temper tantrum. Though Terri had told me all about what had happened there, nothing could have prepared me for the mess. If this room had been torn up by a spirit, I dreaded running into him/her. It looked like a war zone. I snapped a few photos and decided to spend what little bit of daylight we had left interviewing Joanne Martin about their ordeal in the property.

  More Details of the Haunting

  Though Joanne lived, literally, in the middle of nowhere, she was still quite social and wanted to talk about what was happening in her home. She introduced me (again) to Tim and Sarah, the tenants of the spare bedroom, and informed me that her two daughters were staying with relatives who lived in the vicinity if I needed to speak to them.

  I told Joanne that I would, indeed, like to speak to Julie, the eldest daughter, at some point, but I was most interested in interviewing her and listening to her story. So after switching on an audio recorder that I had in my pocket, I managed to get the details of her haunting firsthand.

  She and the rest of her family believed that there were three ghosts in the trailer. The first was a male entity by the name of “Keith.” He was the father of one of Joanne’s children, Julie, and he had recently passed away of natural causes. According to Joanne, the family had originally believed their stone-throwing entity to be Keith (when he was still alive); Joanne and he had gone through a bad breakup and she suspected that he was staking out the trailer to terrorize her as punishment for giving him the boot. Then he died.

  When the rocks continued to routinely pummel the place, it became painfully obvious that Keith was not responsible—or at least h
e had taken his new hobby with him beyond the grave. Either way, the entire family now believed that Keith watched over the trailer and his daughter, Julie. So, long story short, he was thought of as a benevolent spirit in the home. As far as I was concerned, this was good news. So far, all I had heard about ghosts from Terri was that the place was inhabited by an angry spirit, so this was a breath of fresh air.

  The second entity in the home was also, strangely enough, associated with Julie. According to the girl, she had been seeing and hearing the spirit of a young girl dubbed “Emily” since she was very young. Emily would visit her in her bedroom and often told her when things going awry in the trailer were the product of the other two ghosts.

  Typically, when activity would start ramping up in the household, Emily would disappear—almost as if she was hiding from the other two spirits. I found this to be quite interesting.

  In cases of infestation that I had researched, entities would often pretend to be someone harmless in order to gain the trust of those who lived in the house—for often nefarious reasons. The fact that Emily would “disappear” when the other spirits would be appearing and performing

  activity suggested that this could be a possibility in the Martin household.

  Of the third spirit in the trailer, an entity the residents called “John,” little was known. Joanne claimed that John was a black man who had once lived in the area that was “done wrong” by one of Joanne’s relatives (meaning he was most likely killed). Knowing the racially charged background of this area of Mississippi, I found this story to be plausible, if a little sketchy and devoid of detail.

  When I asked her for more information, she stated that anything to do with John was just rumor that she had heard growing up—though there were some mean men in her family over the years who certainly could have done any number of horrible deeds to such a person.

  According to Joanne, it was John that would become violent and attempt to possess Tim. As Terri indicated in our first phone call, it did seem that the Martins were claiming that a human spirit was possessing Tim. Knowing that we would talk more about the subject of ghosts, I decided to move on to some background information regarding the Martin family and the area.

  Background of the Case

  As mentioned above, Joanne and Keith had recently undergone a divorce, so initially she thought a lot of the activity that they now know to be of a paranormal nature was being perpetrated by Keith—after all, he was still making attempts to reconcile with the rest of the family and was angry with Joanne for rebuffing his advances. This activity included the strange rocks that would hit the home—as well as strange knocks and bangs that would originate from the walls (possibly from outside).

  Though the land had been in their family for several generations, they had purchased and placed their brand-new trailer on the property in 2000 and, at the time, Joanne lived there with her four daughters and Keith. They divorced a short time later, and soon after that they began to hear stones hitting the sides and roof of the trailer. Joanne would open the door and yell into the darkness for Keith to leave them alone, but the attacks would continue—sometimes all night long, much to the dismay of the children.

  After Keith passed away in 2003, activity in the trailer slowed to a crawl. It remained this way until the family briefly fled the home in 2005 as Hurricane Katrina pummeled the area. But after they returned to the trailer, they began to witness significantly more paranormal events.

  The rock-throwing became more prevalent and they started noticing things were magically appearing in the home—this includes the incident that involved coins dropping out of thin air. Over the years, as activity became more and more frequent, the family became sort of accustomed to things happening there—especially since young Julie had already begun communicating with the spirit of Emily at this point.

  I asked if anyone else had ever seen or heard Emily. Joanne quickly told me a story that involved an overnight stay by a couple of Julie’s friends. During that evening, the three girls were sitting in Julie’s bedroom having a good time, when one of the guests suddenly screamed and pointed at the bedroom window.

  She had seen a pale, young female face peering in, watching the girls. A face that did not seem quite right … Julie informed the startled girls that this was just the spirit of Emily, who was hiding outside because she did not know her guests. Needless to say, this was probably the last overnight stay in the trailer for either of those young girls!

  Since several people had seemingly seen the ghost of Emily, I asked what the spirit looked like. Joanne promptly stated that she was a young girl, about four feet tall, and wearing a white dress. I asked, “Has anyone been able to note any details about the girl herself—not what she’s wearing?”

  Joanne answered, “She’s a little white girl with long, blonde hair.” Good enough. Joanne would go on to reiterate that Julie had the most experience with Emily and that she could give me a lot more information about that spirit. I noted this and we moved on to more of the history within the trailer.

  As previously stated, the paranormal events seemed to really start happening after the family returned home following Hurricane Katrina—and it was also when the family began to fear being in the place. This is when Joanne decided to rent out the spare bedroom. I guess she figured, quite reasonably, that she would feel safer if another adult was living there with her family. That was when Tim and Sarah moved in.

  Interestingly, almost all the information regarding the presence of a spirit named John came from Tim. He stated that when he was possessed by the spirit, he could communicate with him. And it wasn’t just John. During one attack, he said he could also channel/communicate with Keith.

  According to Joanne, Tim described Keith perfectly (even though he had never met him or seen any photographs) and that he had even made a reference to a favorite shirt that Keith had lost in the trailer. As Joanne was feeding me all of this information, Tim and Sarah stood as a strange chorus of sorts, nodding and repeating “uh-huh” behind her. It seemed that they all agreed on the story at least. But I had to wonder even more about Tim now.

  Though it was clear that activity was occurring prior to him moving in, it was also obvious that Tim was at least escalating the feelings of anxiety and hysteria in the home. All of them lived in fear of his bouts of possession. In order for me to have a productive investigation, I did not want any such environment. It would be a massive distraction and, possibly, even make some of the residents and investigators to want to leave.

  So I decided to make my bold move regarding these possessions: I approached Tim, pulled him to the side, and told him, “Listen up, tonight I’m investigating this house. There’s not going to be any of this possession crap going on.”

  To my amazement, he simply nodded and said, “There won’t be. The last time John tried to get me, I told him ‘no more’ and he has stopped.” Huh? I was taking a big chance at possibly upsetting everyone there to even try this approach, but I figured if he still had an episode despite my warning it would just show that it was beyond his means to stop the phenomena—but if he simply obliged me, then it would be clear he was faking the whole thing. This “agreement” with John sort of voided my test. I was miffed by this, but, hey, at least there would be no possessions happening that night!

  Further questioning of Tim and Sarah revealed other paranormal activity as well. According to the couple, the sounds of voices/growls were often heard while they were watching television in the living room and that objects had moved in that area on several occasions (including the utensil that flew from the kitchen). They also mentioned experiencing sudden headaches and feeling an occasional overwhelming “hot spot” hit them like a swirling blast of hot air.

  Joanne also mentioned at least one occasion in which a clock changed time by itself; she had just noted the time and the clock was correct, then a short time later it was suddenly off by several hours, but w
as still running perfectly. This happened the evening the Mississippi and Florida paranormal groups were performing their investigation—the same investigation where a researcher felt someone touch her with invisible hands.

  When I asked Joanne what bothered her the most about the haunting, she stated she was angry about her dogs. Apparently, her pets had been driven off by the entities. No evidence of their whereabouts had ever turned up, and she suspected that they might even be dead.

  Joanne had suffered watching her children be terrorized by an evil spirit, endured the almost total destruction of her only home, witnessed her friend/tenant as he underwent horrific episodes of apparent possession—and now she was telling me that her pets, too, had either disappeared, been killed, or were driven off by a malevolent spirit in the trailer. All these negative experiences were almost more than any one person could endure. It was enough for me to ask Joanne something I’d sworn to avoid.

  Before wrapping up the interview and diving headfirst into the investigation, I asked Joanne if she would like to have her house blessed. She appeared to be genuinely upset by a lot of the activity in the trailer, so I hoped that this might make her feel better about being there.

  She quickly said yes, though she avoided mentioning any particular denomination or religion for the blessing. When I asked her who she would like to do the blessing, she lit up. “Oh, I believe in it all,” she said with a huge smile.

  The First Investigation

  Now that the preliminaries were over with, it was time to get down to business. Trucks were unloaded, household furniture was rearranged to accommodate movement in complete darkness, and the heat/air-conditioning unit was silenced so that it would not interfere with audio devices. Video cameras and audio recorders were then strategically placed throughout the premises.