Some people wonder why?

Some people wonder why, about a lot of things when it come to my Team. Windy City Paranormal Is adding members? Why, they already have 5? Windy City Paranormal is adding members from another team? Why would you want people who were in another team wouldn't they be considered outcasts?

Well let me put it this way. It's my Team and I can do what I want. Or is it what I need? Most of us don't have a 9 to 5 job. We need some people that do and some that don't. some clients have a sched. that is more suited for a weekDAY investigation than a weekEND investigation, thus the need for Teammates that can do that type of sched.


We added some team members from other teams because either they just didn't like they way things were going or that they were never allowed to go on an investigation.

Or is it that these people are not outcasts its just that they didn't have team chemistry. Whatever the case maybe I hope they find a home with Windy City Paranormal.

On my Team we respect one another and their ideas. We have them involved with one part or another in the Team's business. Whether it's running the myspace.com/windycityparanormal page for the Team or Research or Audio or Marketing.

Windy City Paranormal is the some of its parts. We all do our share and when it comes to Teamwork we all pull together. I never wanted a team of drones I wanted a Team of independent, smart, hardworking individuals that work well together as well as alone. With each passing day I really do think we are growing in that direction.

Thanks for your time and Happy Hunting,

Vinny

New Team members

Well hello again. I have a couple of announcements, the first is we have 2 new WCP Team members in training. Melissa is one she has her first investigation coming up really soon. I'm excited for her. I know she will do great.

Ed is our other new WCP Team member in training. Ed has experience with another group but never had the chance to do many investigation so He comes to us. And we are happy to have him.

The second announcement is that we will be getting a 7th and final member to the team real soon. We have about 5 people we need to interview to see if they will click with the team. The person will go through the same training as everyone else. equipment use, technique and theories about the paranormal and on investigation debunking will be a hands on type of training.

Thanks for your time and Happy Hunting,

Vinny

Can I get a Tissue

Wow 3 years without the flu and I think its making up for lost time.
Halloween, an historic election of a lifetime, and a great case with no video evidence but good audio. We are heading into a follow up investigation. We are going to set up more audio in hopes that we can collect even more evidence.

My team is looking forward to Waverly Hills. Brian has been reading a lot of good books and passing them along to us to read. Cherie is doing some research on a place in Chicago proper. Aaron is in the process of updating the website with a couple new features and I can't wait to see them.

Speaking of new features we have a couple of tricks we will try at Waverly Hills. I can't talk about it now I want to see if it works first, and if it does work, then it will be something that we will continue to use on future investigation.

Thanks for your time, and Happy Hunting.

Vinny

MY TEAM = MY FRIENDS

Have I mentioned how great my team is? Oh yes, I have ,but not in a while.

Well let me just say my Team rocks they are learning faster than anyone could expect. Getting better and better with each investigation.

A man that makes mistakes has to not only live with the mistake but also right the wrong when ever possible. I made a few mistakes and when I needed a friend when I needed to be forgiven, my team was there for me. They encouraged me to be the man I am and admit my mistakes and make up for them. I don't judge them and they didn't judge me. Thanks Team!

This last investigation we had was the most active to date. We all had personal experiences at this location. Aaron, Brian, Cherie and myself had a blast. more fun than we could have ever anticipated at this location. We are going back soon with our new trainee Melissa I hope its even more active than last time.

Thanks for your time,
Vinny,
Founder of Windy City Paranormal

Central Indiana Paranormal.

Well our first joint investigation is done and it went great. The team of Central Indiana Paranormal was a top notch class act. We would love to work with them again some time.

Special thanks to Diana, Josh, and Kristy. We really enjoyed working with you. We had just as much fun talking to you as we did on the road trip down to Indianapolis. It was a blast.

The evidence review is almost done and we will post any findings on the news section of our website. Don't worry the clients gave us full permission to do so.

Thanks for your time and Happy Hunting,

Vinny

9-11-01 to 9-11-08

As you may have read in my other posts, I work for an airline. 9-11 used to be a happy occation for my family it was my mom and dads aniversary. But now its bitter sweet. I'm one of the lucky ones I'm still here.

My heart and prayers go out to all the people who lost their lives on that day as well as the family and friends of those people.

Seven years, and it only seems like yesterday.

God bless America and her people!
Vinny

OLD SCHOOL vs. NEW SCHOOL vs NO CLASS

There has been a lot of talk over the last 5 years about old school "ghost hunters" vs new school "ghost hunters", But I have a problem with the groups that just have NO CLASS.

Its one thing to not respect the ones that have gone before you in the field(aka new school), but to not respect anything or anyone for the sake of their own pseudo superiority; Well that just shows they have NO CLASS no matter what school of thought you have.

What do you mean? You ask? I mean the kind of individuals or groups that just like to tear everyone and everything down. They have forums or invade other forums and spit their venom onto the world. Making fun (more like insulting) others just to make themselves feel better about their own short comings.

We at WCP have seen this first hand over the last month pertaining to people asking for help on forums. Hell I've seen it from the receiving end of it in the past.

I'm not saying I'm perfect. I use the term "orb chasers" to describe groups and/or individuals that still think specks of dust are "ghosts". But I have never attacked anyone specifically or repeatedly on any forums. I've used it in blanket statements like "are they orb chasers?" or "the orb chasers of the world." So you see We are all guilty on some level, but to constantly attack and PM(private message) an individual looking for help or some one defending that distressed individual, and in some rare cases hacking websites and forums, then that shows NO CLASS.

So lets all have some Respect. I know I can't control forums that are run by groups. But on open forums don't attack the people looking for help. If you don't believe them, then don't respond. And for all of the people saying "but what about spirited discussions?" Thats fine, as long as the name calling and the ridicule stays out of it. If you can't make a statement without a personal insult then shut up.

Remember you maybe a tough guy on the keyboards but in the real world there are leaders, followers, and mavericks. And for the leaders and mavericks we are tough mentally and physically, but you will never see us abuse or harass others just because we can.

Thanks for your time and Happy Hunting,
Vinny, Founder of Windy City Paranormal

ps. I've been know to be a maverick all my life.

Circle of Paranromal Life

Sorry I haven't wrote in a while but busy life comes first...Like I have said before I'm high touch not high tech. its a Mancow quote and I like it so I use it.

Things are starting to come full circle. The things I believed in that my former group didn't,  are helping WCP.  Community, compassion, and just out right honest friendliness without strings.  

We are preparing for our Hardest cases.   Negative Entity type cases.  Its very stressful for the client and we understand that.  We know our limits and know we needed a little back up.

We put a call for assistance out to other groups, and in the true meaning of community they came through.  

In one case we help one team with research on the area and in turn are doing a joint investigation with that team Northern Alliance of Paranormal Investigators.  It will be there second investigation at this home, and the first for us.

The second case is out of state and there are a lot of nasty things happening so we reached out to a lot of people; from Native Americans, Shawn, and elders Joe and Martha(they have been invaluable).  Also we reached out to 3 different groups for help, in the area that we are going to.  Central Indiana Paranormal and a member from PGR-IN that is an ordained Minister with 18years of experience in this field. Plus a member of the Nightwatchers Kevin, a.k.a. TheWindWizard. All have been very supportive and a great help.

We are mentally and physically prepared for these cases.  We hope to help these people come to grip with the situation.  Send the families and our Teams your prayers.

Thanks for your time, and Happy Hunting.

Vinny

NEED FOR PRAYERS

I've recieved an e-mail from a fellow investigator for prayers. E-mail as follows.

Central Jersey Paranormal Research Group

Hello All:

I am sorry I don't write much but we are here to help anyone of our friends that need help.  But this time I need all your Help.  My daughter Rachael was involved in a almost fatal car accident thurs. night.   She is at Shans hostiptal in Jacksonville Fl, and I an stuck in NJ.   Any pryers you could send her way I would greatly thank you for.  She has a fractured skull, jaw, nose, pelvis, and deep laserations and separation of a knee and a neck injury's,  so any prayers you could send would help.

Thank you,

Michael and Kathy

CJPRGROUP.

I've been in a serious crash and have lost friends in the past to car crashes it is a hard thing to have to go through.  but with your prayers Rachael will hopefully be able to fully recover.

I know our (WCP) prayers are with Michael and his daughter and family.

Wheaton investigation

Hello all and thanks for checking us out.

Well let me start by saying I'm proud of my Team!

They did great. We are going over the evidence for a second time and any finding will be posted soon.  Our client gave us full permission, although that may not alway be the case, the clients infomation is alway kept confidencle unless a relise is signed.

We are looking forward to working with Northern Alliance of Paranormal Investigators for our next investigation.

Check out Aarons blog he went on vacation to my home state of PA and went to a couple of very interesting locations. I hope he caught somthing!  

Thanks for your time.

Vinny

First Blog

Hello I'm Vinny, the Founder of Windy City Paranormal.

I'm more into the interpersonal relationships than the internet relationships, but I'm giving this blog thing a go.

What got you into this?

that's a question I get a lot. I think all investigators do, if not all the time, at one point or another.

And I think all of us can answer that question in one word, curiosity.

We are all curious,  most have had a personal experience, some of us started with a fascination for crypto zoology, and some just have always been fascinated with ghosts. I'm part of the crypto zoology people.  That has always been a passion for me since I was 14. Reading everything I could get my hands on, or watching shows on TV or listening to radio shows about the unexplained in the world of animals.  This happens to be a very impractical hobby for most people, not to mention an extremely expensive one.

I've also liked ghost stories and always looked for logical reasons for the things that happened, But the only ghost hunter that i've ever known about were those jokes of hunters that were seen on some cheesy shows around Halloween or on IN SEARCH OF where you looked at the people doing it and think "What the hell, are they serious? That could have been a thousand things causing that noise".

But I Digress. Then came a show called GHOST HUNTERS on the Sci Fi channel and I thought heck let's watch. So my wife and me curled up on the couch and began to watch.  It was the first episode and we loved it.  This was not the run of the mill ghost hunters we were used to seeing on TV but regular people, not some overly dramatic fake sensitive, they didn't hold a seances or readings.  They used high tech devices that I've only thought of for electrical work or security surveillance. 

So as soon as the show was over I ran (literally) to the computer and logged on and looked for the TAPS website.  OMG!!! There were people like me.  Other groups like TAPS.  Over the next couple of years my interest grew until I finally logged into the 18+ forum on the TAPS website.  There I found a groups just getting started that I thought I would do well in and asked to join.  After 6 months I got "a kick in the complacency"(thanks for the qoute Capt. Picard) I needed.

I found my smile again as they say.  And I returned to the old Vinny. The Vinny of drive and determination returned.  I haven't seen him since 9-11-01; I think a lot of us around the country lost a little somthing that day.  You see I work for an airline as a flight attendant and I lost my confidence and drive that day.  I just wanted to go home every day and sleep.  The only thing that kept me going was my wonderful wife. I would draw energy from her, she would help me through some very rough patches in my life and for that I'm forever in debt with her.

After a while of what seemed like banging my head against a wall with my old group I was getting ideas in my head of starting my own team, and when it was clear that my ideas of being nice and sharing information with other groups openly and creating a TEAM instead of just a group were clearly not appreciated with in the group I was in; I left to start my own group but I wasn't alone.  Others felt the same way and a couple of  those people came with me (Cherie and Brian), Cherie left before me but I kept in contact with her, and Brian left with me.  Then I picked up another former members of the other group. He had the same dream, He left earlier to start his own group.  He later decided to come and join my team, only after being asked a few times. lol...That was Aaron, I didn't go to him right away because I wanted him to keep his dream alive too, but I needed him to complete my team so I asked him.

My Teammates are great, they all bring something to the team and have ideas and thoughts and no one is ridiculed for them, and we all respect each other.  We help each other in any way we can.  We are growing close and becoming good friends.  And with this crew it's easy.

CHERIE  is an excellent researcher and has a passion for it. Not to mention she is one of the most thorough people I know.  She is irreplaceable.

AARON  is our audio and video expert, that's what he does for a living.  Not to mention a great web designer and music producer.  Look for his new song to come soon don't worry we will post it here or on Windy City Paranormal's Myspace page when its completed, I'll let him tell you about it in his blog.

BRIAN  I write about him last because he is the glue of the team his sense of humor in life and practicality of thought for the paranormal makes him the utility man on the team he is smart and learns things quicker than I've seen of anyone in any thing i've seen in years.  And he is the kind of man to come right up to my face and tell me I'm wrong.  Whether I am or not. lol...

That is me, that is my team, and I hope this brings you a little comfort in knowing who we are; specially if you're here seeking help.  Take comfort in knowing we are real people.  We are passionate, funny, strong, and independent thinkers, and we want to help.

Thanks for your time,

Vinny