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Encounters with the Unknown



Salt Lake Paranormal: A Disturbing Presence
Report prepared by Kevin Richardson, April Cunningham, Brett Madsen, and Josh Elmer


By Kevin




Technical Investigations of Paranormal Activity Research, or TIPA Research, was formed in 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We were originally created to provide technical support for local ghost hunting groups in the Salt Lake valley; who either couldn’t afford the standard equipment, or who didn’t have the knowledge to operate the equipment used in investigations. Over time, we developed a reputation and people began calling on us directly to help investigate and provide validations to events that they were unable to understand or explain themselves. With the growing demand for our services, we began to expand our efforts and brought on researchers and case managers to help us grow.

TIPA does not rely on personal experience or any kind of psychic/sensitive approaches even though we do respect how some groups have been proven to be very accurate in their reports. We prefer to address a case with the technical aspect in mind, as we did when we started TIPA. We use many types of equipment; everything from full spectrum cameras to surveillance systems, along with many of the standard devices used on a regular basis.

We also started a Meet-Up group so people with a general interest in the paranormal field could have a place to go. We have shared many stories and heard a lot of different personal experiences through the course of doing this. We have acquired many new friends and we have even held a few investigations for them to attend to see our approach and assist them in developing their own skills.

We have contacted a couple of our past clients and they agreed to be references as to our professionalism and effectiveness. This leads us to one of our residential cases:

Brett Madsen, Lead Case Manager for TIPA, was contacted by the client. She is the daughter of the owner of the house in question. After some discussion between Brett and client, they agreed to schedule an investigation of her mother’s house. The investigation included four TIPA team members.

Upon arrival we had noticed that the house was uniquely built. The second floor appeared to be an add-on from the original structure. Later we did find out that it was built by a brother and the father. Upon entry, we had noticed that though the house was clean, there were a lot of full storage containers sitting to the side of the living room. At this point, we had only met the client and her mother (who seemed rather excited by the situation.) While we were being shown the first couple of rooms in the house, the two also started to talk about the client’s deceased sister. The client’s sister’s body had been placed on the floor between the living room and the kitchen. At that point the mother explained that the paramedics were trying to resuscitate her there, that's when the client said "no she was already dead before that" which started a brief argument between the client and her mother ending with the client saying "Why did I not know that all these years?” Then the client sent her mom to her room and continued to give us a tour of the house. She told us that she "knows" that something was in her old room. Her bedroom was off to the side of a second room being used as another bedroom also. As we continued through the house she stopped at the other end of the kitchen and pointed at the cover in the floor and informed us that was the entrance to the basement where there wasn't really anything but spiders and webs. Just around the corner from there was a bathroom where she explained that her ex husband was found dead and face down. “I believe from an over dose" the client stated. At that point we saw the stair case leading up to the second floor. It appeared to be steeper than the standard ones you would see in more current structures. As we traveled up the stairs, the over all feeling was heavy. Directly at the top of the stairs was the room where the client’s son stays. Right away, we noticed it was colder then the rest of the house up until now. She told us that he sees a dark shadow, rather tall, that stood in the corner giving him the feeling of being stared at. Also the client informed us that the other night he had awakened to the feeling of being held down. We continued out of his room and saw another doorway that looked like a closet door but when she opened it appeared to go down a long hallway and into the up stairs apartment. It felt like a real “fun house” affect going on. At the end of the hallway, the living room for the apartment was on the right and the bathroom was in front of us. To the left is where the sisters’ room was. The room next to that is where the roommate at the time was staying. (It was a very small room)

Next, the client told us how her sister was murdered. “My sister was in the bathroom getting ready for her date, and it is believed that the male roommate was getting jealous.” She reported that the roommate came into the bathroom, punched her in the face causing her to fall. She also had a burn mark on her neck where the client believes her sister fell against the curling iron. Then he reportedly pulled her into her room on her bed where he injected her with a large amount of morphine. He kept her there until she passed away. During this time, we did notice some oddities about the up stairs - a very odd homemade light fixture, for instance.

After our initial walk through with the client, we then proceeded to set up cameras in all of the hot spots that she went over with us. We then held a quick meeting with the team to discuss how we would like to proceed with the investigation. We decided to start the night out in the client’s sister’s bedroom and did our first EVP/Flashlight session where she was drugged then laid on her bed to die. During the EVP session, we were discussing how the client’s sister was murdered. At the end of that conversation, Josh Elmer, founder of TIPA, asked if what we had just discussed was true. Low and behold, we had a flashlight turn on immediately followed by an EVP that we caught both on our digital recorder and on video footage saying "Yes." This helped verify and confirm how the sister actually was murdered. Also during this session, Brett's full spectrum camera battery completely drained and shut off. But once he tried to turn the camera back on the battery was full again and completely functional. From the sister’s bedroom we proceeded to the client’s son’s bedroom to hold our 2nd EVP/Flashlight session where he claimed to have seen a tall dark shadow figure in the corner of his room. During this session, we decided we needed to be firm with our questioning due to the problems this shadow figure was causing the son and the rest of the family. During this session we did not catch any EVP's, but got some very interesting flashlight responses to the questions we were asking. First, we must explain that we had three flashlights set out and had whatever was in the room to pick a “Yes”, “No”, and “Maybe” flashlight before starting our questioning. One of the interesting points of this session was when we asked, "Did you play a part in the murder that happened in this house?" And we had the “Yes” flashlight turn on immediately. Then the question of the night was asked "If you had the chance again, would you harm someone in the family?" All three flashlights turned on immediately. Then both Josh and Brett started to feel very uneasy and angry along with the instant chills and hair raising feeling on their arms. We continued to ask a few more questions, but Brett started getting very sick to his stomach and we decided to end the session and take a break from the investigation to regroup. While outside catching some air, the team discussed what we had experienced so far and some possible ways we could help the client get rid of whatever was there. We all agreed it would be a good idea to bring in another paranormal group as soon as possible that had experience with cleansing a house. Brett decided to go back in and check on the base tech to see how everything was going. And as they were chatting, one of the cameras went completely out. At that same time, the light above their heads started to flicker. At that point, the rest of team came back in and Brett pointed out to Josh that one of the cameras had completely shut down. Both Josh and Brett went to the bathroom where the camera was located. They were looking to see if the IR light was still on and that it was still all connected. When they got there, the IR light to the camera was still on and the camera was still connected to the power source. So Josh went back to base to check the connections to the DVR system and noticed that the camera cord was completely pulled out. Both Brett and the base tech verified that there was no way they could have pulled on the cord because at the time, they were both standing facing the monitor while the connections are behind the monitor. Once we got the camera back up and running, we decided to do one last EVP session in the bathroom, hallway, and staircase where the client's husband overdosed and was found dead. During this EVP session, we did not catch any EVP's or any consistent flash light responses. This session lasted around 30 minutes. After this session, we decided to call it a night and discussed with the client that we all thought it would be a good idea to get another team in the home as soon as possible to take care of whatever was in the home. The client agreed it would be a good idea and said we could come back the next night if we wanted to.

The following day, we contacted our close friends at Advanced Paranormal Investigators East, or API East, who specialize in cleansing and who also have mediums/psychics on their team. They agreed to help us. We did not tell them any of the client's claims or experiences we encountered the night before to see if they were able to pick up on it themselves. As TIPA Research and API East arrived back at the home that night, we were greeted once again by the client and proceeded to the living room and opened a discussion about how the client felt everything went after last night's investigation. During this conversation, a few of us started hearing a little kid’s voice talking in the bedroom that was linked to the living room where we all were. After the conversation, Brett from TIPA Research decided to give both psychics Melissa and Karen from API East a tour of the house so they could get a feel for the place and see what they could pick up on. As we proceeded to each room of the house, both psychics were able to pick up on and confirm each story that the client told TIPA previously, before the investigation, without even being told any history of the location. Also, they were able to determine that the spirit that resides in the home is a demonic entity and never had a body. Once Brett, Melissa, and Karen got to the apartment living room area they decided to do a personal reading on Brett to help bring in some positive energy to help push back the negative before beginning cleansing the home. After the reading was over, API East began their cleansing session, as Josh and Brett observed. Once we got to the bottom of the stairs and was looking up into the client's son’s room, a few of us saw a full body shadow figure pacing in the son’s room that eventually stepped out of the room to the top of the stairs and was staring down at us as if it wanted to do something to all of us. Unfortunately, none of us were able to catch the shadow on camera, so we have to chalk it up as a personal experience. Once the cleansing session was finished, we all gathered back in the living room and gave a brief summary to the client of what exactly API East did and how successful they felt it was. API East told the client they think they got rid of a lot of the negative energy, but the demonic entity remained. Throughout the cleansing, they told the client that the entity just kept hiding from one room to the next and told the client it would have to be joint effort between her and her family to get rid of this thing for good. Brett and Josh then proceeded to tell the client that they would go over some things for the family to do to help lighten up the home, and possibly help get rid of the entity in the home for good.

Three weeks later after review of all the footage from both nights of the investigation, TIPA Research got together with the client and went over all the points of interest. The highlight of the reveal was when we played the client the EVP that Josh was asking "Is that true?" and we got a response "Yes". All of a sudden the client started to tear up and said "That’s my sister’s voice, without a doubt, responding to your question. Thank you guys so much! You have finally put to rest a lot of unanswered questions I had about my sister’s murder!” That is one of the best things for a paranormal investigator to hear. TIPA proceeded to give the client some ideas of how to help get rid of the negative energy that remains in the home; like paint the apartment part of the house a natural color, keep the curtains open during the day to let some light in the home, and to do a big spring cleaning to get rid of all of those storage containers laying around the home creating the clutter, and finally the most important is getting the electrical problems fixed right away. Overall we felt that this was one of our most successful residential cases. This case is still ongoing and we are keeping constant contact with the client, checking up on her and making sure things are still good in her home.


Friday, March 29, 2024