A Haunting in Smartsville

The theme song to this investigation is Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones. As you read this article, you will see why this song is fitting for the Smartsville story, hear the song here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59K2kF6o9Tk

To see pictures from the Investigation, stop by here:
http://s970.photobucket.com/albums/ae185/PaulDaleRoberts55/Smartsville/

H.A.L.O. (Haunted Activity Light Operations) Tactical Squad

LISTING OF FAMOUS GHOSTS OF SMARTSVILLE:
Smartsville Wood Knocker
The 4 Hombres
Brown Sugar
The Midnight Rider
Father Toomey
The Ghostly Children of the Smartsville Cemetery
Christmas Eve Mass – Church with a room full of ghostly patrons.

June 29, 2012: Chantal Apodaca, HPI Assistant Manager is the one that convinced me to investigate Smartsville. Chantal stops over this evening to watch Amanda Seyfried in the movie Gone and during the movie tells me about the Smartsville Wood Knocker. People visiting Smartsville will stand next to a building and hear strange knocking that will resonate from the building. There is no explanation for the knocking.

Email that Chantal received from a client: “Hi Chantal, this is Dean, I am glad you are headed for Smartsville. When I was working for the Department of Water Resources, I was assigned in that area. One night after work, I was driving near the Smartsville Cemetery and I saw a lovely African American woman hitchhiking. I kept going, but then thought, maybe I should pick her up. I went back for her and I could see her in the distance and she simply faded away before my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I saw! As I pulled my car around and headed down the road, the song by the Rolling Stones came on..Brown Sugar. What a strange coincidence, but even as I write this, I get chills! This happened in 1988.”

Date of the Investigation: June 30, Saturday
Time of the Investigation: 1400 Hours
Town we are investigating: Smartsville, CA
Credit: Chantal Apodaca. Chantal receives reports from her clients that this whole town is haunted and convinces me to take a team to Smartsville.

Investigators are meeting at:
Penn Valley Market 7 B Liquor
17434 Penn Valley Drive
Penn Valley, CA 95946
and right down the road (Hwy 20) is Smartsville. I could not find a direct address in the town of Smartsville. Anna Hill from Angels of Light Paranormal Society will assist us as we start ghost hunting in Smartsville.

HPI Paranormal Investigators Present are:
Paul Dale Roberts, HPI General Manager; Heaven Liegh Eldeen; Nicole Stowe; Malissa Finch; Brycen Bailey; Anna Eldeen, Jon Koyasako/Security/Lead Investigator; Shari Aresta/Lead Investigator. Assisting HPI are: Anna Hill/Founder – Lead Angels of Light Paranormal Society and her two investigators: Lynne Shively and Darren Courtney/ Photographer. Special Note: HPI Investigator Kara Koyasako dropped her husband Jon at my house and Jon rode with me up to Smartsville.

The Church!

Activity Reports:
1. In a home located here in Smartsville, a woman saw something so horrific, she jumped out of her window. This home has a history of 2 suicides within the home by hanging.
2. A Smartsville citizen saw the 4 Hombres – 4 ghostly cowboys walk down the street and then dissipate.
3. Stagecoach and the driver are sometimes heard galloping down the street of Smartsville late at night. This ghost is called The Midnight Rider.
4. Father Toomey is most likely a dominant ghost inside the Catholic Church. He was well loved by the community. He conducted an important mass during the Brown’s Valley flood, he was captured by the flood waters in his buggy and drowned. The church was last used by the Sacramento Diocese in 1998, this group finally formed a community center and helped place a new roof on the church. John Rose, another important citizen of Smartsville, did a lot for Smartsville and assisted in the building of the church, he was a ship carpenter and many things in the church resemble church carpentry, sugar pine wood is used in some parts of the church and it was hand done.

Residents of Smartsville that Assisted us with Our Investigation:
Rita Gross – gave us personal use of her home’s restroom.
Leanna Beam – town historian, lived here since the 70s. She oversees the cemeteries in the area. She has seen ghostly children playing in the cemetery and during Christmas Eve, she saw a full mass of ghosts inside the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, that was built in 1871. (Possible residual haunting). This is a Gold Rush era church. Shari Aresta actually captured two EVPs inside this church, one said: “give me your camera” and the other EVP said: “come get me!” Yes, this church is haunted and HPI and Anna Hill’s paranormal group is the FIRST paranormal groups ever to investigate this church. This church was opened up for us and we had full reign to investigate. We captured many designer orbs and of course we are checking to see if we captured more EVPs, besides the ones that Shari captured.
Dennis Beam – he printed out a series of photos for us, that show anomalies. Dennis even brought out his laptop to show us even more photos.
Kit Burton – had key to the church and allowed the investigators to investigate.
Janet Burton – provided us with historical material to better understand the history of Smartsville.
Kit and Janet Burton are the President and Secretary of the Smartsville Church Restoration Fund Inc – S.C.R.F.I. pronounced Scruffy.

History of Smartsville:
John Rose was born in Scotland in 1817 and he was the first Treasurer in San Francisco. He was the principal builder of the first church in Smartsville and lived in Smartsville. David Parks was born in Pennsylvania in 1805 and was lured by gold at Yuba River, he was also another prominent citizen that lived in Smartsville. The O’Connors and the McGanney(s) were prominent families that lived in Smartsville. President Rutherford B. Hayes signed the Land Grant Deed in 1856 establishing the Township of Smartsville which was named for Mr. James Smart who built a hotel there. His hotel, now a home is just right up the street from the church. Hard rock and hydraulic mines once abounded this area. In 1861, the Church of the Immaculate Conception was built by predominantly Irish and a few German Catholics. 1870 the church burned to the ground and was rebuilt in 1871.

Places Investigated:
Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception – inside this church are the words: ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo.’ Translation: Glory in God in the Highest. Bats fly throughout the church.
Pioneer Cemetery aka Union Davies Cemetery – a place where Chinese miners dug up the graves of deceased Chinese workers and took the bodies back to China. We discovered bones of deer and the skull of a raccoon.
Smartsville Cemetery – where we captured an EVP of a woman whimpering.
McGanney Cemetery – Anna and I saw a shadow figure walk between two trees in the shape of a V.
Catholic Cemetery – Captured EVPs of a loud ‘sigh’. Captured EVPs of men talking and women talking.

Paul Dale Roberts and the Team!

Tonight HPI is working with Angels of Light Paranormal Society. To learn more about the beautiful Anna Hill and her paranormal society, please read her interview here:
http://forums.jazmaonline.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4392

THE REVEAL:
With the EVPs that were captured, there is no doubt in my mind that Smartsville is a bread basket full of paranormal activity. Anna and I both witnessed a shadow figure move across two trees in the cemetery. Another investigation is warranted. We may just discover that Smartsville may be the Mother of All Paranormal Investigations, but of course we still have that home in Galt to investigate that had a ton of activity. So, we can only see! It will be interesting, because Anna and her team will join us in Galt for the 2nd round!

BELOW ARE HPI UPDATES, NEWS AND GOSSIP:

Marci Moses suggests we investigate:
Madras Gorge – has reputation of being haunted and Haunt in Cherokee Cemetery State Highway 70 Cherokee, Ca 95915 Cherokee, CALIFORNIA Plumas Haunt
www.strangeusa.com
What do you think investigators? Give me some feedback.

Leanna Beam suggest we investigate Timbuctoo. – The Charlotte is buried at the local cemetery there. We need to discover what The Charlotte is!

Paul Dale Roberts, HPI Esoteric Detective
aka The Demon Warrior
Shannon McCabe’s Haunted and Paranormal Investigations International
www.hpiparanormal.net
http://www.knighttalkradio.blogspot.com/
Managed by Staci Butler, HPI Twitter Account Manager/HPI Senior Lead Investigator
http://alldestiny.com/index.php/paul-dale-roberts/
My Bio Link at Ceri Clark’s All Destiny Magazine!
Email: [email protected]
Cellular Paranormal Hotline Investigation or Advice: 916 203 7503