June was a very interesting month for the documentary. Since Queen Con, I have become more integrated into the paranormal community. It’s more vast than I ever thought it was, and I’ve made a lot of good friends. I’ve become a regular viewer of The Paranormal STU, Donn Shy’s The Green Room, and Wolfe Manor Live

On June 13th, I attended my first GHOULA event. This get-together is held every 13th of the month, at a haunted location in and around Los Angeles. I had a great time, and met a lot of new friends including Dawn Gomez, who is assembling a new paranormal team, and Jeremy and Michelle from Dark Realm Paranormal Investigators. I also spoke to Joe Mendoza from 3AM Paranormal, as we shared stories about what else? The paranormal! The paranormal community is very friendly and welcoming, and I can see myself involved with them long after the documentary is done.

On June 17th, I was invited by Marsha Covert of 3AM Paranormal to explore one of the most haunted locations in LA, Linda Vista Hospital. It was a very eerie experience walking through an abandoned facility like that; completely devoid of activity a hospital would normally have. It was almost as if I were exploring something from everyday life after a nuclear war! I shot some great footage with Marsha and a few other investigators. I brought along my nephew Lawrence, who shot some great “B” roll footage, and even manned the main camera few times.

On the 18th, I was able to profile 3AM Paranormal for the documentary. I’ve watched all their videos on Youtube, which are edited into 10 minute “mini episodes” of their adventures. They’re yet another group that is unique in comparison to the other groups I’ve documented. 3AM doesn’t have a large amount of equipment, but they do employ very innovative techniques in order to communicate with the entities they seek out. Joe and Rebecca are very friendly and a lot of fun, and they jump right into an investigation and are “on” as soon as they get there.

I was invited to a location that was said to be even more haunted than Linda Vista. Again a incredibly fascinating experience; and watching the team attempt new things to reach out to the Other Side was incredible. I also met Louis Gonzales, founder of the Southern California Society for Paranormal Research. Louis was very helpful to a newcomer to paranormal investigations by keeping me up to speed on procedure and lore.

Joe reminded me of an aspect of the documentary that I haven’t filmed yet. I need to include the hours upon hours investigators spend poring over the evidence collected; both from cameras and digital recorders. I’ve also learned two things about my process. The nice 150.00 Rode mic that I bought pops like crazy while tape is being digitized, but this seems to disappear during playback on the computer. Also…I sometimes forget to turn the mic on…!

The second thing I’ve noticed…my camcorder is embarrassingly LOUD! This usually isn’t an issue, but when I’m filming investigators collecting EVPs, the constant droning of the tape’s drive mechanism is just too distracting. I have a Sony Digital 8 DCR-TV740 I’m using for my main camera, and this is a known problem with this model.

Me, Joe Mendoza, and Dawn Gomez