DailyJournalOnline → News → Local → Paranormal Task Force investigates haunting claims

Paranormal Task Force investigates haunting claims

Wife reports unexplained phenomena at newly acquired home in rural Bonne Terre

By CHRIS CLINE
Daily Journal Staff Writer

Published: Saturday, November 21, 2009
Updated: Friday, October 30, 2009 3:59 PM CDT

Reporter's Note: On Oct. 10, 2009, the Paranormal Task Force, visited a rural Bonne Terre residence to investigate claims of an alleged haunting. The following is the first part of a two-part series that deals with claims of paranormal activity and the group's investigation. The names of the property owners have been changed to protect their identities.

BONNE TERRE — Jim and Sandy Clark moved to their 9-acre farm in rural Bonne Terre in 2003. The couple was from St. Louis with Jim being a former truck driver and Sandy a bus driver for the St. Louis special needs district. Since the couple made the move they have experienced phenomena they cannot explain.

Sandy claims she has always been sensitive to paranormal activity. She has never felt threatened at her home, but has experienced enough activity to believe something else resides at their home.

“In the back field I was walking our dog Lucy one day,” she said. “I was walking along a path. As we were walking I saw this man. Lucy started growling. I looked down at Lucy and told her to stop. When I looked back up, he was gone. She saw the man too. It wasn’t just me.”

Lucy’s hair was standing up when she saw the man. He was wearing a dark blue shirt that buttoned down the side.

“His hand was down and he had his head down in his hand,” Sandy said. “He was just leaning up against a tree.”

A small graveyard is located on the Clarks’ property. The Clarks didn’t know the graveyard was on the property until the day they closed on it. Two years ago on the evening of July 4, Jim drove Sandy to the highest point on the property to watch fireworks from the nearby city. As the couple was watching the fireworks Sandy noticed something in the graveyard.

“We had a drought that year, and it was so hot,” Sandy said. “All of a sudden I saw this mist coming from the graveyard. I asked Jim if he saw it. He kind of laughed and said yes, I see it. When you pick up on stuff, you want to make sure you are actually seeing it. I kind of got upset because he wouldn’t admit he saw it.”

Sandy claims what she saw was not weather-related, and it was focused on the cemetery area. Jim maintained that he didn’t see the mist during an interview.

Sandy also said she has seen the apparition of a girl looking out her bedroom doorway during the wee hours at night.

“It was about 3 a.m.,” she said. “She was a young girl. Her hair was pulled back and she didn’t look at me. She just stared straight ahead into the other bedroom. She must have been young because of the dress she was wearing. I sat up to see her because I wanted to get a better look. Then all at once she was gone.”

About a week later Sandy said the apparition visited her again. She believes the girl was 12-15 years old and from the 1800s.

“This time I tried to get him (Jim) awake,” Sandy said. “He was groggy and wouldn’t wake up.”

Sandy said she believes the girl was staring out into a field.

Jim said he doesn’t believe in the paranormal.

“It’s never happened to me,” he said. “I’ve been laying in bed watching TV and all at once I’ll catch something going across the side of my line of sight. I just blow it off. I look over there and of course there’s nothing there. So I don’t think anything more about it.”

Sandy also said there is an urban legend involving the apparition of a slave at a nearby creek.

Jim said he will be a nonbeliever until he actually has an experience to make him feel otherwise.

Chris Cline is a reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact him at 573-431-2010, ext. 114 or at ccline@dailyjournalonline.com.