Ghost Train

Hey folks! Some of you have expressed interest in a case I'm currently working on. I'll post what details I can here, right up to what happened last night.

About six months ago, I was called by "Mr. Smith", who was given my number by a mutual friend. He was experiencing typical poltergeist phenomena with his model train layout. It was starting, and running on its own, with no power source. I agreed to take on the case, as the focal point of whatever it was being the model railroad was not only appealing in its own right, but new and novel to me, as well as being, at least to my knowledge, unique in the cases that I and others have both studied and worked on.

After calling in a couple of electricians, who both witnessed the occurence, they could offer no explanation for what seemed to be a self-willed train.

I have since made several more visits to Mr. Smith's house, both with him there, and when he has been out.(Always with his knowledge, and consent, of coursesign1 ). Try explaining that to the police if the neighbours should get suspicious:eek:ops: . In each case, I have taken EMF, and temperature readings, and found them to be within acceptable, normal ranges. Except when the layout would run by itself, when the EMF meter would go off the scale, and the temperature would drop by 10 to 20 degrees celsius.

This brings me to last night. When I arrived, everything was quiet. Mr. Smith and I exchanged some small talk, and a few chuckles about his situation. After offering me a cup of tea. We headed downstairs to, as he puts it, "Twilight Zone Junction". Right on cue, as soon as we entered the room, the train starts to run. Pulling out my EMF meter, it goes right off the top again. IR thermometer registers 17.5 degree drop in two seconds. I turned to Mr. Smith and asked him if he had ever thought of changing anything on his layout to see what would happen, whereupon, I received an N Scale 0-6-0 engine to the right temple,(Mr. Smith was on my left). I still have the mark it made today.

I asked Mr. Smith where he got the idea for his layout, which is a small mining operation, and he said that he found an old picture in his grandfather's attic depicting the town, and he recreated it as best he could. Unfortunately the photograph does not name the town, nor does he know where it is, so I'll have to do some research on that.

My next step will be to set up a video camera and audio recording device in that room, lock and seal the door, and all of the windows, and wait.

One last thing, upon arriving home, my phone was ringing. It was Mr. Smith, calling to say that one of his engines,(the one that hit me), was missing. We both remembered me picking it up, and handing it to him after I got nailed, and he put it away. I volunteered to go back and help him look for it, but he said it would probably turn up on its own, and not to worry about it. Hanging up the phone, I went to go type up my notes, and there, sitting on to of the computer, was the engine, where it still is, until I can take it back tonight. Mr. Smith was very amused when I called him back, as this is a new wrinkle in an already strange case.

That's it for now, I'll post more when I get more details.
 

MilesWestern

Active Member
Got some pics of that engine :eek: and that layout, for reference? That must of really hurt, espically to leave a mark! What kind of velocity did it have? Are you ok? EMF is Electro-Magnetic Frequency, correct? 17.5*C drop in temperature!! Wow.
 
MilesWestern said:
Got some pics of that engine :eek: and that layout, for reference? That must of really hurt, espically to leave a mark! What kind of velocity did it have? Are you ok? EMF is Electro-Magnetic Frequency, correct? 17.5*C drop in temperature!! Wow.

You're almost right, EMF is electromagnetic field. It did hurt for awhile, but a couple of aspirin did the trick. I have pictures of both the engine and layout, but Mr. Smith does not want anything in the way of pictures published...sorry, but it's the only way he would allow me to post his case. The engine, though, is a Life-Like AT&SF 0-6-0. Item number 433-7781, pg 37 in this year's Walthers N & Z Scale Catalogue.
 

Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
Holy cow. (My first thought was something I can't type here. ;) )

That is some really wild stuff.
Does "Mr. Smith" have any teenage kids at home that poltergeist energy could be feeding off of? Perhaps the the picture he found was someplace his grandfather had worked or had some type of connection with and it's him coming back to play with the trains? That would explain him bouncing the engine off your head when you suggested changing the layout. I'd love to see that pic. I don't know what to say about the engine showing up at your house. However, I would suggest a good cleansing of the house and yourself if this is following you.
 
Cannonball said:
Holy cow. (My first thought was something I can't type here. ;) )

That is some really wild stuff.
Does "Mr. Smith" have any teenage kids at home that poltergeist energy could be feeding off of? Perhaps the the picture he found was someplace his grandfather had worked or had some type of connection with and it's him coming back to play with the trains? That would explain him bouncing the engine off your head when you suggested changing the layout. I'd love to see that pic. I don't know what to say about the engine showing up at your house. However, I would suggest a good cleansing of the house and yourself if this is following you.

Those were my thoughts about a possible epicenter for poltergeist activity as well, but he lives alone. The possibilty of his grandfather's spirit is one that also seems to be pretty strong to me also, considering the origin of the photograph, and the potshot off my head. As for the engine showing up at my place, I'm willing to let that occurence go, and see what develops, if anything threatening happens, I'll definitely take action, and cleanse my house. Whatever it is will learn that it's picked the wrong person to mess with. Overconfidence can be a big problem when you do this type of thing, but I've held my ground against far worse. As a veteran as well, so I guess I can say that I've had both the living, and the dead take a crack at me.:thumb:
 

Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
Knighthawk said:
Those were my thoughts about a possible epicenter for poltergeist activity as well, but he lives alone. The possibilty of his grandfather's spirit is one that also seems to be pretty strong to me also, considering the origin of the photograph, and the potshot off my head. As for the engine showing up at my place, I'm willing to let that occurence go, and see what develops, if anything threatening happens, I'll definitely take action, and cleanse my house. Whatever it is will learn that it's picked the wrong person to mess with. Overconfidence can be a big problem when you do this type of thing, but I've held my ground against far worse. As a veteran as well, so I guess I can say that I've had both the living, and the dead take a crack at me.:thumb:
I had another thought about the engine showing up as well. If it is the grandfather by some chance, perhaps that was his way of making a peace offering? Have there been any other violent episodes regarding this case? I'm also curious to know if there is any other phenomina in the house or if it's just the trains? If it's just the trains and no other violent episodes, I would let it be. Sounds to me like it's just someone wanting to have a little fun with the trains and as long as the extra running time doesn't show up on "Mr. Smith's" electric bill, I don't think he should be too concerned with it. ;)
 
Cannonball said:
I had another thought about the engine showing up as well. If it is the grandfather by some chance, perhaps that was his way of making a peace offering? Have there been any other violent episodes regarding this case? I'm also curious to know if there is any other phenomina in the house or if it's just the trains? If it's just the trains and no other violent episodes, I would let it be. Sounds to me like it's just someone wanting to have a little fun with the trains and as long as the extra running time doesn't show up on "Mr. Smith's" electric bill, I don't think he should be too concerned with it. ;)

So far, it has just been the trains, so Mr. Smith and I are just trying to figure this out for the sake of curiosity, and since they run without power, he's alright with that too!
 

Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
Knighthawk said:
So far, it has just been the trains, so Mr. Smith and I are just trying to figure this out for the sake of curiosity, and since they run without power, he's alright with that too!
I had a clock radio that did the same thing when I was 13/14..... However, I was a pretty stressed out kid and there were a few nasties around that enjoyed feeding off that. Nothing as cool as a paranormal powered train. That's mostly why it facinates me now.
 
MilesWestern said:
What was your worst cases, now that we're all huddling around the campfire, gobbling marshmellows! :)[/quote

My worst case would have to be one of the abandoned insane asylums that I was asked to look into. The entity there turned out to be a former patient,(bad enough), who did not know he was dead,(worse), and who happened to have, while alive, homicidal tendencies,(now I had a REAL problem on my hands!).

I won't go into all the details here, as this is a family friendly forum, and I don't want to freak out any kids who may read this, but basically movies like "The Exorcist", and "The Amityville Horror", have nothing, special effect wise like what happened there.

The end result was me being hospitalized with several broken ribs, and a concussion.
 

pooka2hot4u

New Member
oh noes haunted trains, CALL THE GHOST BUSTERS!!!! lol

did you make sure to completely disconnect the power from the track or was the throttle just set to zero?
also how exactly did the train hit you? did it just speed up down the track and derail into your head?
 
pooka2hot4u said:
oh noes haunted trains, CALL THE GHOST BUSTERS!!!! lol

did you make sure to completely disconnect the power from the track or was the throttle just set to zero?
also how exactly did the train hit you? did it just speed up down the track and derail into your head?

The controllers were unplugged, as they have been every time the trains run on their own. as for the engine, it was not even on the layout at the time, being put away in its box, which itself was in a closed drawer.
 
Gotta go folks. Taking Mr. Smith's engine back, and also looking into another case afterwards. I'll post again when I have more information.
 

CNWman

CNW Fan
Hmmmmmmm.......

Isn't it possible that all the trains that were running were equiped with batteries or something? I don't know much about EMF other than what's on this thread, but it's an idea. The flying train i can't account for, but there are some things that don't make sense. First off, if the picture was found in the grandad's house, then why did the "ghost" decide to move? Secondly, have you seen the picture that this layout was built on? There are more, but I'll save them. One final sugestion, try removing all motors from the engines both on and off the track. that way you could deem if the trains were moving via electricity or not.

 

Seaboard

Member
Knighthawk said:
Gotta go folks. Taking Mr. Smith's engine back, and also looking into another case afterwards. I'll post again when I have more information.

Please do. I am waiting to hear more about it:D jawdrop
 
MadModeler said:
Geesh! That's scary. Hope you're okay.

A-OK! I'm bringing in a friend of mine, who happens to be psychic, and also has strong mediumistic skills. The plan is to establish communication, and find out who it is we're dealing with, and what they want. From there, we'll see what needs to be done. After that, it should be case closed.:thumb:
 
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