Article that was in Atlanta Cuisine Magazine (http://www.atlantacuisine.com/).
Atlanta Cuisine AROUND TOWN www.atlantacuisine.com
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Around Town
Things go bump
in the night at
one Buford bistro
by Tom Maicon
Buford – “I think we should setup base right here,” says Ed
Laughlin, pointing to a small two-top near the front door of Aqua
Terra Bistro (55 East Main St., Buford Tel: 770.271.3000), a
popular Buford dining destination.
Laughlin, founder of a local group called Ghosts of Georgia
Paranormal Investigations (GOGPI), is a real life ghost hunter.
Think TAPS, minus the tattoos.
“Hey guys, come take a look at this,” Beth Peters, case
investigator and sensitive, gleefully calls out to the rest of the
group, while previewing a series of pics she took moments earlier
with her digital camera.
“I’m usually not fond of orbs,” she explains, “But this one
is pretty impressive.” Her eyes fixated on the camera’s display
screen.
The investigation hadn’t officially begun, and she’s already
captured a light-emitting orb hovering over the dining room.
This group is the real deal, arriving with infrared video cameras
feeding into a high-powered DVR. They’re heavily armed with
all sorts of gadgets and gizmos, including an impressive arsenal
of audio recorders, and even electromagnetic detectors (EMF and
K-II meters) to measure any renegade electromagnetic pulses that
might be floating around the walk-in cooler, or elsewhere.
Having joined Laughlin on two other investigations in the past
(with a different group), I was impressed with his professionalism.
Three years ago, we investigated Hot Dog Heaven in Woodstock,
after receiving numerous reports from the employees of buns
flying off the shelf and kitchen equipment turning itself off.
In past years I’ve written these articles based on my experiences
during the investigation. This time around, I thought it might
be interesting to show you the findings of the investigation as
provided by Ed Laughlin and Beth Peters.
by Tom Maicon
Continued on page 4
Atlanta Cuisine AROUND TOWN www.atlantacuisine.com
Atlanta Cuisine AROUND TOWN www.atlantacuisine.com
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Things go bump in the night at one Buford bistro
Continued from page 1
Investigation Report:
September 26, 2009 GOGPI investigated claims
of paranormal activity at Aqua Terra-Bistro in
Buford, GA. Claims of activity included: Uneasy
feelings by different people in the basement,
glasses flying off the shelf hitting the floor at a
distance away, tip money missing from a jar only
to be discovered across the room stacked neatly
at the top of the stairs, and unknown voices being
heard.
Investigators & people present at investigation:
Investigators: Ed Laughlin, Beth Peters, Christine
Riley, Corey McHargue
Investigator Trainees: Patrick Riley and Kari
Kesley Investigator Guests from Atlanta Cuisine:
Tom and Melanie Maicon.
Weather conditions: Moon phase- 1Q at 12:49 AM
Condition of Bistro: Currently in operation full
time and in good condition for a building of its
age, built circa 1870’s. All utilities were in good
working order, the structure, including walls, roof,
ceiling, and floors, were sturdy with very little
floor squeak. Windows and outside doors were
well sealed.
Equipment used by Investigators:
Cameras: One Rebel digital camera, Four IR Video
Cameras connected to a J2000 DVR.
EMF Meters: Cell Sensor cellular phone/EMF
detection meter, Electro Sensor EMF Meter, and
K-II Meter.
Audio Recorders: Sony P210 digital voice
recorder, Olympus D-10 digital voice Recorder,
Olympus VN-4100PC.
Thermometers: Cen-Tech mini non-contact
infrared digital thermometer, Omega
HH68K ambient thermometer.
Before we began the investigation, Beth, Corey,
and Christine did a sensitive walk through and
base temperature/EMF readings at 11:00 pm.
No unusual readings were noted, however, some
unidentified noises were heard, and a couple areas
in the basement seemed to have peaked the interest
of the sensitives. While Beth was standing in the
serving area of the basement (an area of interest),
the overhead light turned off for no reason. Corey
had to reach up and move the light around to get it
to come back on.
Investigation began at 11:40 pm:
Team 1 – Beth, Ed, Kari & guests from Atlanta
Cuisine
11:40 pm – Basement 1 – Average temp, EMF
readings .0-.4
* Sensitive report – Benign feelings
11:46 pm – Storage Area off Basement 1 – All
investigators heard a loud thud sound, and went
to investigate. Average temps – EMF readings
2.0-3.0 (normal for kitchen/storage area with lots
of electrical boxes) – Never found source of thud
sound.
11:50 pm – In Freezer of Storage Area off
Basement 1 – EMF 1.5
* Sensitive report – Benign feelings
11:56 pm – Ed heard a man’s voice in storage area
– source not found
11:57 pm – Kari heard a growl/scraping sound
coming back into Basement 1 area from the
storage area. Ed heard the same sound, and was
walking behind her. EMF readings still .0-.4 – Did
not find source of sound. Recorded voice on audio
recorder.
12:05 am – Storage Area – EVP Session 1
12:06 am – Beth heard running footsteps upstairs,
like a kid running (verified, nobody was running
upstairs)
12:10 am – Compressor from drink machine
released while asking EVP questions (strange
timing)
12:11 am – Cold breeze came from around water
heater room and around Ed. Tom heard lots of
whispering sounds around pipes and such at the
same time.
12:12 am – Beth and Melanie heard clinking
sound upstairs (sounded like 2 wine glasses
clinked together) – went upstairs and verified
nobody was moving around glass or was in the
kitchen. The kitchen was above the team and while
investigating to find cause of noise, we tried to
reproduce it by tapping glasses together along with
other utensils in the kitchen, unable to reproduce
the sound.
12:13 am – End of EVP Session 1
* Sensitive Report – Benign feelings.
Prior to leaving the area we had the other team
walk and run above us to try and reproduce the
running sound heard, could not reproduce the
sound.
12:31 am – Basement 1 – average temp and
EMF readings. Conversational EVP captured.
Session 2. Kari explains how she feels sadness/
glooming during some parts of investigations
like in Basement 1. Claims she had the same
feeling when she investigated the second floor of a
previous investigation at another location.
12:36 am – Tom and Melanie hear a clicking
sound by the back wall door – Ed checked it out
and feels it may be the vent. The A/C was running
and an occasional ticking sound could be heard
from the vent.
12:37 am – EMF spike all the way to red on the
K2 while sitting on the table in the middle of the
dining room during EVP session.
12:44 am – K2 started spiking and moving
lights like crazy sitting on the table during EVP
session. Base readings in the area registered .01-
02 Miligause. The K2 seems to be responding to
questions and communicating with the team.
12:45 am – Beth started asking questions. The
unexplained would respond by moving the lights
on the K2 to yes and no questions. Through a
series of questions we have concluded that it is a
man over 50 that was scared.
12:48 am – Ed asked yes and no questions as well,
the K2 responded with lights to his questions, but
stopped suddenly. End of EVP session
*Sensitive Report – Beth felt like we were
communicating with a spirit.
1:05 am – Upstairs Bar Area, – started
investigating again after small break.
K2 started going off again, and communicating
with the lights to yes and no questions again.
We stayed in one spot to let the spirit continue
talking to us until it stopped. Average temps
and EMF readings other than the spikes during
communication.
*Sensitive Report – Beth felt like spirit is walking
around with us and continuing to communicate
with the team.
1:06 – 1:08 am – walked through 2nd dining area,
and down to Basement 2.
1:11 am – K2 started communication again and
was letting us know he was walking with us
through yes and no answers we were getting.
Average temps, and EMF .1-.3 when not spiking to
red during communication.
1:13 am – Room in Basement 2 with stairs to
nowhere EMF went to 1.0
1:19 am – Room in Basement with loading dock –
Ed got a sick feeling, nauseated, and Tom hit cold
spot. K2 started spiking again while they stood in
one spot and Beth was holding K2. Also picked up
EVP’s at the same time.
1:23 am – Ed asked the spirit that was moving
the lights on the K2 to drop the temperature on his
thermometer and it seemed to respond by dropping
temp from 72.5 to 71.0 in almost 3
minutes standing in the same position and
area of the room.
1:30 am – Basement 2 – heard footsteps
upstairs, believe it to be one of the
members of the other team that had
checked on a noise that they heard while
in Basement 1, – Begin EVP session 3
1:37 am – Basement 2 – end EVP session
3 – no communication on the K2 with the
lights
1:45 am – 2nd Dining Room – Begin
EVP 4
1:44-1:50 am – K2 started
communicating again to yes and no
questions while sitting at table, he says he
is scared again. He responded that he was
sitting next to Melanie. Melanie started
asking questions and he responded to her
with the K2 as well.
1:45 am – heard a loud pop in the kitchen
area during EVP session
1:54 am – End of EVP 4
1:55 am – Tom saw something block the
light on the wall in the 1st Dining room.
We went to investigate sounds in kitchen and
shadow Tom saw – no explanation found. EMF
– 2-3 (normal for kitchen area with equipment)
1:58 am – Near the Kitchen area in 1st Dining
room and bar area, K2 started going off at various
times with lots of communication to yes and no
questions, then stopped. Team 2 borrowed the
K2 to take down to Basement 1. They had no
communication with the K2 like Team 1 did.
Melanie felt a cold chill while standing near the
bar, temp and EMF readings were normal around
her, the feeling then subsided.
2:20 am – Team 2 brought K2 back to us sitting at
Bar area – K2 stared taking to us again, responding
to yes and no questions very clearly
*Sensitive Report – Beth feels a spirit joined us
at the start of the investigation, liked our team, and
stayed with us throughout the investigation.
2:30 am – End of Investigation
Investigation began at 11:41 am:
Team 2 – Christine, Corey, & Patrick
11:41 pm – Basement 2 – EMF .0-.1, temp 73
11:47 pm – Basement 2 – Christine asked, “can
you make a noise?” A man made an audible
answer “no” in a whisper.
11:50 pm – Basement 2 – Christine hears a “tink”
noise
12:02 am – Private room upstairs from Basement
2 – EMF .0-.1, temp 69
12:10 am – 2nd Dining room – EMF .0-.1, temp 73
12:25 am – 1st Dining room – computer and
DVR was unplugged, Team 2 plugged it back
- (someone may have kicked it leaving the bar
earlier)
12:40 am – 2nd Dining Room – Team 2 reports
hearing clicking sounds coming from private
room/restroom area.
1:06 am – Started investigation again after small
break – Basement 1
1:09 am – Basement 1 – Christine heard a man
singing when the team was singing.
1:11 am – Mechanic room off from Basement 1
Storage Room – EMF .0-.1, temp 74
1:14 am – Basement 1 – Corey saw a round
ball that made her heart jump. Heard enormous
amounts of noise upstairs, team quickly went to
investigate, discovered it was a giant icemaker.
1:22 am – Basement 1 – Patrick saw a white light
in far right hand corner of the basement.
1:33 am – Basement 1 – Christine feels cold chill
on right arm, wrapped around arm – temp change
to 72 in room
1:41 am – Basement 1 – Patrick, Corey, Christine
heard what sounded like a cough
1:43 am – Basement 1 – Corey saw a light at top
of stairs. 5-10 min. prior, Christine saw a shadow
cross the top of stairs. Corey and Patrick saw
movement in far right corner of basement right
after Christine saw shadow.
2:18 am – Team 2 left Basement 1
Findings:
We were asked to investigate claims of
paranormal activity at Aqua Terra Bristo. While
we were unable to debunk or confirm claims
of the glasses flying off the shelf and objects
disappearing and reappearing at a different
location in the restaurant, the investigators had
some personal experiences of their own that were
unexplained.
Some of the personal experiences included, but
not limited to the following, while in the basement
areas there were sounds of some one running,
chairs being moved, and conversations going on
in the rooms above. Upon investigating the noises
we found no one in those rooms. We also tried to
recreate the noises, but were unsuccessful.
Two investigators felt unexplained cold spots
and one got nauseated as he enter one of the
rooms, the nausea feeling left when he exited the
area.
Two investigators heard the clank of glasses but
we were unable to find the source. Audible
disembodied voices were heard and recorded with
our audio digital recorders. Numerous EVP’s
were recorded, some were in response to the
investigators questions and others seem random.
One team received responses to their questions
via the K-II meter in three separate locations.
The EMF reading in the same areas were within
normal range. Nothing Paranormal showed up on
our still pictures but all the video data has not been
reviewed at this time. What has been reviewed has
not yielded anything Paranormal.
With the stories of paranormal activity from
several different people, the personal experiences
of the investigators, and the EVP’s, along with
the K-II activity, we feel that Aqua Terra Bristo
is haunted. We also feel that there is nothing
malicious at the location and that the activity
includes both residual and intelligent activity.
We feel that follow up investigations are
warranted to find out more answers to questions
that were raised on this investigation.
tom@atlantacuisine.com
