(From April 25-26 to April 28-29, 2012)
A little over a week ago, I went to the Ghost Adventures event in Philly at the Independence Seaport Museum. It was something else, let me tell you. First off, I hadn't met any of the guys from GA, so it was a pretty big deal for me that night. And, I have to say, I only had one fan girl moment. We were sitting in the theater waiting for the Q&A to start and for the guys to come out - which were Aaron, Nick, Jason & Ashley. That fan girl moment was when we (Janice and I and a few others) were sitting in the front row off to the right side and they walked by the in the back to go around. I did one *gasp* and just watched and they disappeared. And that was my big moment that I physically saw them for the first time with my own eyes. And then they were all introduced and the Q&A went on for a good hour - hour and a half, maybe, not sure. It lasted a while, but it was a lot of fun. Nick and Aaron are really themselves. They don't pretend to be anyone else. The show is all them. It's THEIR personalities and to experience that first hand was incredible.
Through-out the Q&A, Aaron is straightening out the cloth that's on the table. And at one point, he goes, "Why do I keep doing this?" And he demonstrates the straightening and everyone laughs, "I can't sit still!" And he really can't. He always has to be moving, which is who Aaron is. And I'm still blown away by how real they are, how real they come across - even on TV.
Now, when the Q&A was over, everyone jumped up to go and get in line. Yeaaah, we went and got the END of the line. It was a lot cooler to wait for them and we would actually get a little bit longer to hang out with them. We kinda did, too. It was great to stand in line and watch them interact with everyone, it really was. When my turn was up, I honestly thought I would be really nervous. That I was going to fall over myself and make a fool. But I wasn't. It's like I had known them for years or something (which technically I have via TV; vlogs, twitter; etc.). But the thing that really blew me away the most is how much they really appreciate us fans. I didn't feel nervous at all. I had a pair of gloves for Nick, since he didn't get a pair. And I showed them to Aaron, and asked if he recognized these, he went, "Yeah, I do! I have them all." And I said, "Yeah they're from me." He said, "I know! Well, now I know!" Haha! And told him how they got to him from my friend, Shona, who let me send them to her in Texas to give to Zak and Aaron at the Stanley event. So Nick now has a pair of the GAC gloves, which is awesome. And to top it all off, I got to Big Step with Aaron (I have a picture and video to showcase it, too). But honestly, it felt like a big family, extended family, of course. But nonetheless, family. It was a really amazing experience to finally get to meet them. Investigating with them was something else as well. We were the last group to investigate with them and it was...amazing. We went into the first room and I just stood there and looked at them. I couldn't believe that I was there, first off. But another thing I felt was their presence. It was strong, almost larger than life even. I don't know if anyone else picked up on it. Janice did say, "Well, they've been doing this a long while." Yeah, but still. It was still cool to pick up on that. It was fun when we left, said bye to Nick, who was standing at the end of the plank walking out of the Olympia and told him how awesome it was to finally meet them, since I've been watching GA for years now. He smiled and hugged me. It was a great night to meet these guys that I've been seeing on the screen for so long!
And then on Friday. Janice and I left for Hill View Manor, which is in New Castle, PA. We didn't leave til almost 8 that night, which would get us to New Castle at 2:30 in the morning. I fell asleep for about an hour at some point and I felt bad for Janice who didn't have anyone to talk to. I know when I woke up I was rubbing my eyes just to keep them open. Thankfully, we stopped so I could get some sort of caffeine in me. That probably wasn't a good idea as when we got to the hotel and I fell asleep...I woke up 3-4 hours later WIDE awake. I had set my alarm so I could go and get breakfast, and woke up an hour before that. It was crazy-ness. So I went to breakfast. Went back to the room, fiddled on the computer, then laid down for an hour and could NOT sleep. It was weird. So I walked on the treadmill in the exercise room for what...thirty minutes and then finally fell asleep for an hour, I think. Once up, we headed to Wal-mart where Mike and Michelle were meeting us. It was AWESOME to finally meet these guys in person. And after that, we went over to Hill View, just to get a look at the building in the day light. And that place is HUGE! HUGE! We didn't get in 'cause it was locked, of course. So we went and got some stuff then headed back over. It was something else when we got to walk into Hill View. The walk-through was something else. I had to rely on the others, who had been there 2-3 times already, because I didn't know where I was going. I didn't want to end up getting lost and freaked out. But it was cool to check the place out during the day. When it was night though...that was different. Now, Hill View was my first REAL investigation where we were in the place and didn't leave it for 9-10 hours. We went up to the third floor first and walked around. Heard a bang, which was weird, because the other group was on the first floor. The second sounded like it came from the second floor landing as if someone was shutting the door. Plus we were seeing shadows on the 3rd floor, like people were peeking out at us. Janice got her iPod out and started playing Frank Sinatra. It felt different. It was as if they wanted that music, or no one else played it for them so they liked it. The laser grid was on as well. Another person and myself also heard jingling as if someone had a pair of keys, but none of us did. It was interesting!
After that, we headed down to base before going over to the chapel. It felt peaceful in there. Janice got music playing again and it was the song, "Georgia", I believe. And I just remember feeling sad, like I wanted to cry. So I got up and moved around, Janice had some shadow activity around her and her hair touched. No one was around her when that happened either. It was really interesting. We then went up to One North, where people got to make Darth Vader jokes with my mask on. That should be interesting audio to of me breathing loud just to make them laugh. We had interesting flashlight activity with the maglight Janice literally bought that afternoon. It seemed that when we were talking to each other, the flash light turned on as if to say, "Hey. We're still here." almost. It was cool though. The entire night was different. I hadn't experience anything like that before.
Can't wait for the next one!
Haunted Hales Bar at the end of July!! :)
