Oak Forest Paranormal Hunters Have Strange IL Cemetery Encounter

OAK FOREST, IL — The moon was full and the air was crisp on the night of Sept. 18, when Don and Elayne Archer, of Oak Forest, went to Forest Home-German Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park. It was on this late summer night that the duo said they gathered "extreme paranormal evidence."

The pair, who comprise Spectrewaves Paranormal, have been investigating together since 2006. Both are passionate about finding out where our energy goes once we die. Elayne said she is a "sensitive," meaning she can pick the spot out where she thinks they will capture the most paranormal evidence on their hunts. The pair said they have acquired the skills to use scientific tools in their paranormal investigations and interpret their data.

Afterlife tours have a contract with the cemetery to allow tours and paranormal investigations for the public, which is how the group booked some time in the cemetery, legally. Although the group have been investigating paranormal experiences for years, they said Forest Home-German Waldheim Cemetery was eso alive that September night.

"This particular cemetery was so active versus all the other cemeteries that we've ever been in," Don said. "We really couldn't keep it to ourselves."

Cemetery History

Before the cemetery became what it is today, it was a burial ground for the Potawatomi Tribe, according to the group. German Waldheim was incorporated in 1873, and Forest Home Cemetery was incorporated in 1876. In 1969 the two cemeteries officially merged. Forest Home is the English translation of the German word Waldheim.

Thousands of immigrants living in Chicago, whose deceased were not welcome in Chicago cemeteries, were buried there. The cemeteries' non-sectarian policies, location, non-denominational nature and significant number of fraternal and union plots made them the burial place of choice for a wide range of individuals.

The "Paperboy"

When the pair went out to the cemetery that night, they captured a man in a photo — but said no man was present. This photo was taken near a $3.5 million mausoleum, surrounded by huge columns.

The paranormal hunters always take at least three or more pictures in one setting to "debunk" strange photos. After reviewing the other photos in the same session, the group said no other picture has what they think is a man present.

"It seems he has a paperboy hat on, with suspenders, along with a bag, looking as if it’s his work tools," Don said. "The man seems to be in his mid-40's. His features are very defined and there’s no mistaking there is someone in the photo. His body is somewhat transparent."

The Spirit Box

The investigators use a "spirit box" that sweeps AM/ FM radio frequencies to allow spirits to communicate, according to the group.

That night, the group said the box spoke a name in the chapel —"Rich Malloff" — and they heard a spirit telling them to "take a picture" so they could see him. The pair also heard a boy saying "hi mom."

They uploaded a video to YouTube of their experiences in the chapel.

In another video, the name Rich came through once again, along with the names Cynthia and Tom, the group said. When Spectrewaves asked how long the spirits had been there, one spirit said "too long."

Crawling On The Ground

Another strange encounter the group said happened that night: They saw a figure crawling and rolling on the ground in between the gravestones. They captured this entity on their "SLS Kinect," the investigators said.

SLS stands for structured light sensor. The 3D mapping camera is made from a modified Xbox Kinect.

Skepticism

The pair of ghost hunters said they are big fans of paranormal television shows. That's initially what brought them together to begin these investigations. They wanted to know: Is it real?

"We decided that after watching the shows that were popular at the time, we wanted to try it out for ourselves, especially after blogs online kept saying these guys were faking evidence," Don said. "Just for our own benefit, we wanted to find out if they really are faking evidence. So, we bought a couple pieces of equipment that they are utilizing and said, 'let's see if it really does work.'"

The pair began heading out to supposedly haunted locations, testing their equipment for the first time. Not expecting anything specific, Don and Elayne began to collect what they say is evidence of paranormal activity.

"I can't guarantee you that 100 percent of those things that you see on TV are correct. But I can tell you everything that we post, we take pride in what we do, and we make sure that nothing is faked," Don said. "Certain things can be faked, which we have learned over the course of time, but we don't fake anything."

Elayne, a cancer survivor, said she can feel when spirits are near.

"I was never a skeptic. When I was born, the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck. And so basically I had to be revived," Elayne said. "From the moment I was born, death was always following me, and I was always reaching that death lane.

"I try to get some answers, figure out what it is. Is it a parallel universe, are there different dimensions, is it just when we die, there is something else? There's got to be a reason why I'm still here after all these misfortunes that really make me curious. I've been this way my whole life."

Watch more of the pair's experiences on YouTube