(Photo courtesy of SyFy)

L to R: Amy Bruni, Kris Williams, Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, Dave Tango, and

Steve Gonsalves

 

Preston Castle - Ione, California

 

TAPS headed out west for this show, which is no short ride for these east coasters.  Their client tonight is an old reform/military school that was built in 1894, closed in 1960, and is in the middle of a renovation while being used as a tourist site.  A juvenile prison generally doesn’t usually have a whole lot of happy stories associated to it and the Preston Castle is no different.  Visitors and caretakers have heard and witnessed doors slamming, misty clouds, boy’s voices, feelings of being touched or electrically charged, and seeing ghostly apparitions.   Diseases took the lives of many of the troubled kids living in this dreary place and at least one employee was murdered.  Paranormal activity at the Preston Castle doesn’t seem like much of surprise. 

 

TAPS co-founders Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson started their investigation in the former infirmary.  Jason believed that he heard and saw something and just as they were leaving the area Grant believed he saw someone staring down at them through a window area coming from an upstairs room.  Since this room and entrance was under construction, no one could have made their way to that area.  They decided to try and continue to make contact and Grant believed he heard a voice calling out.  He then asked “Do you know my name?”  As if on cue, Jason, Grant, and, us the viewer, heard a voice cry out “Grant.”

 

Brit Griffith and Kris Williams tried to make contact with one of the nurses named Anna, who was bludgeoned to death by one of the juveniles and stuffed in a corner in the laundry room.  The kid or kids that did it were never discovered.  As they were trying to make contact they believed they did see some flash of light and tried to get the entity to show it again but could not get they reply the desired.

 

Brit then headed off with Amy Bruni to the quarantine room.  Amy, on two different occasions, believed she saw a shadow cross their path.  She looked around the area to make sure that there wasn’t just something that would look like a human figure but could not find anything of that nature.

 

Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango went searching for, what some people believe, is a ghost doctor.  A man dressed in a white coat has been seen in, surprise, surprise, the buildings’ doctors office.  As they were trying to make contact, the room became very cold, as if an entity was trying to draw up enough energy to show itself.  Steve seemed to believe that this was actually caused by a draft that seemed to be coming from the hallway. 

 

Jason and Grant seemed to be engulfed in a large amount of various noises in the area just outside the infirmary.  At one point they thought they heard a scream, hopefully they got this on tape.  They headed to the infirmary where they were able to tie one of the noises they heard to the metal beds’ wheels which definitely squeaked when being moved.  The beds were stable so it is quite possible that something may have been moving them and trying to get their attention.

 

Grant and Tango headed to the basement and tried to debunk one of the doors slamming shut.  Grant believes this could be a situation where a draft from a window could easily be the culprit.  Of course not, everyone knows its being done by a ghost.   Not long after this they kept hearing footsteps and then a door opening and closing but no one else was in the building at the time.  This was caught on audio and video and were able to show one of the caretakers what they experienced. 

 

Jason and Steve finished off the investigation in one of the areas under heavy renovation.  As they walked down the corridor they believed they heard some whispering and hoped they caught in on their recorders.

 

There were a few EVPs that came out of the investigation.  While Jason and Grant were calling out for Anna, the lady who was murdered, a response came back that sounded like “Slow down.”  It could have been anything but something was trying to respond to them.  The other really good item caught on their audio and video recorder was that of a voice saying “Grant’ right after Grant had asked if they knew what his name was.   This was one of the better voice captures ever caught on this show.  Some video caught a type of misty cloud that seemed to crawl on the ceiling.   TAPS believed there certainly was paranormal activity going on at the Preston Castle and hoped for a return visit.

 

 

Story by: Chad Alan

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