September 30th 2012 – New Projects

Hello, everyone. I just wanted to update you all on a few things I have started and will be working on in the coming months.  With everything that has been going on with Chris, Alex and everyone else, information starts building up and eventually it becomes hard to keep track of.  I personally would like to have a sense of organization in order to understand the flow of events regarding what exactly is going on here. I'm sure many of you agree.  

This is why I have taken it upon myself to make sort of a video summary of everything that has happened to date, in order.  Now, I realize there is a lot of content to cover, and can’t really be done effectively in one video.  Instead I am going to break the timeline into sections and focus each video on that specific time period.  This way I can upload the videos as I complete them, part by part.  I am not sure how long it is going to take me to make these videos as I have not worked with very many video editing software programs before. There is going to be a bit of a learning curve as I go through with this project.

That said, feel free to distract me and/or make me procrastinate this daunting project with the new formspring or twitter I just set up recently. You can find them here: http://www.formspring.me/DShipman, https://twitter.com/DShipman90 This will give me something to do in between working on this video project.

I'll keep everyone informed and updated as I make my progress with these videos.

- Daniel

September 6th 2012 – Daniel Shipman, PI for hire

So apparently I am now everyone’s go to person for their everyday puzzle solving and paranormal needs. I should really start charging for my services or something.  I am getting ahead of myself however, let me back up a bit and explain.

I got back from my shortened trip to Florida on the 3rd and figured I would take the remaining time off to go up and stay with my friend at his summer house in New Hampshire for a few days just to clear my head and try to gain back a sense of stability. I should’ve known better than to have such hopes. Soon after I arrived in New Hampshire I got a message from the same Ryan person from before that had contacted me about the Rainwood Day Camp.

Apparently he took it upon himself to go and do an investigation of his own of the old day camp and had found something there.  Now I was not entirely sure what this had to do with me besides the fact that I had done some research on it, but apparently he needed my help with figuring out something that had to do with what he had found there.

Now… this was right after the crazy ass week I had just had and, the last thing I wanted to do was delve right back into this, or more importantly, involve anyone else in this mess. However I did give him a call, and although I wasn’t too enthusiastic about it, he seemed very adamant that I was going to be able to help him, and that it was a matter of great importance.  I eventually agreed to have a meeting with him at my friend’s summer home.

These were the events that followed:

I really hope I did the right thing here guys,

- Daniel.

August 31st 2012 - My Perspective

Noah and I made it down to Florida okay. I couldn't quite believe the story he told me until he showed me the footage himself; it's really incredible. While all that was going on, however, I had begun recording myself over the course of the three days that Noah, Chris and Alex were missing. This is a compilation of that footage. Also, I would like to sincerely apologize to both parties involved. This didn't have to happen and in some ways this is my fault. I really hope you accept my apology.

- Daniel

August 24th 2012 - Daniel Shipman's Text Adventure

Well, here I am in New Jersey once again. It was about time I finally checked out this mysterious "Atlantic Test Site" for myself. I brought my camera along and took some stills to show you all what I found and experienced. I expected to go in there and find relatively nothing, but instead I was rewarded with a lot of interesting information. I guess I'll just get right into it and take it from the top.

When I arrived at the Test Site I was greeted by this sign:

I was expecting to find the large bulletin board that the Dark Harvest boys saw on their trip to the Test Site back in April of 2011. Instead, I could only find this small sign. I didn't have a map, as I was expecting to just use that board for navigating. Because of this I was forced to head into the expansive park blindly and just wander around, looking for anything of interest. However, the first thing I noted was how strange it was to me that half of this "welcome" sign warns about the violation of trespassing. That sure made me feel at home.

After walking down a gravel path for a few minutes, I came across a series of buildings and radio towers. There were dozens of radio towers, something that is pretty unusual for a park. These radio towers jive with the story I've read about the Test Site being used to monitor the Sputnik Satellite during the Cold War. There was also a cluster of run down, seemingly abandoned buildings at a clearing at the end of the road. While I was walking over to a building that looked like a large garage, my camera started freaking out. It wasn't working properly and then shut off for a few minutes. I thought this was very odd, but luckily it started working again after several attempts to turn it back on. I finished taking pictures of the buildings before moving along down the gravel road.

I had assumed all the buildings were abandoned, but to my surprise some of these buildings were hooked up to electric lines. I could hear the hum of an air conditioner coming from a small rectangular building with dirty windows and a locked door. I approached it and could hear voices coming from inside. There was a strange amount of echo in their voices, especially coming from a building that small. I approached the windows and attempted to get a better listen, but to no avail. The voices sounded too far away, oddly enough, even though the building appeared very tiny from the outside. I was starting to definitely get an uneasy feeling about the place. Things just weren't really adding up: not to mention I had not seen a single person at this park the entire time; not even a bike rider or someone walking their dog. Not a soul.  

Aside from a feeling of being creeped out, I had not really found anything of significance yet. However, my luck changed when I decided to sit down at a bench. I noticed that the bench had a name on it: the name of a member of the military. It was a memorial plaque. When I looked around at the benches around me, I saw more memorial plaques. Every single one was either a member of the armed forces or a doctor. I could have easily wrote that off saying that these individuals were the only members of society that the locals deemed worthy of having plaques, but there was a peculiar similarity among many of them. About half of these people died in 1957 or 1958. It didn't take me long to realize that 1957 was the date of the Princeton Experiment. It appeared that this experiment was very, very real and in fact took place at the Atlantic Test Site. I even took a picture of the military supervisor's plaque: Lt. Col. Everett Walker (listed on the plaque as Col. E. Walker. Perhaps a post-mortem promotion? I have no clue.) Knowing that such an unethical and bizarre experiment lead by a crazed ex-Nazi scientist took place right where I was standing made me feel uncomfortable to say the least.

I continued walking throughout the park until I eventually stumbled upon a deer path that looked like it led to a radio tower. Curious, I decided to take a walk along it. After a short, maybe ten minute, walk I finally arrived at the bottom of the tower. When I finally saw the spot with my own eyes, a frightening revelation presented itself to me. This spot looked like the exact location of the induction ceremony for Greg Benson into the Order. Nearly shitting myself, but excited at the same time, I took a look around to see if I could find any evidence of cult activity. My adrenaline was pumping as I searched the location. It was also at this time that I realized becoming a private detective might not be a bad line of work for me. Not before long, I discovered this:

Melted candle wax on the iron, or steel, lattice cross section at the foundation of the tower! The likelihood of a candle stub still being attached to the tower after nearly a year and a half seemed slim to me, so this made me think that this radio tower is still an active location of cult activity. I didn't feel safe staying there any longer, so I walked back as fast as I could. Unfortunately it took me nearly a half an hour to make it out of that dense wooded area. The deer paths branch off into dead ends and there was also a large mesh gate that sat right in the middle of the forest. In retrospect, I should have taken a photo of this gate as well, as it seemed very out of place. It could possibly be how the Order keeps out others during their meetings and ceremonies. 

While I was in the forest, I had heard a helicopter circling overhead. At first I thought nothing of it; it was just a helicopter passing by. But after the sound lingered in the air throughout the duration of the investigation, I found it extremely strange. Once I got back on the main gravel road, I managed to take a quick snapshot of the helicopter before it disappeared again behind the trees. It could just be paranoia talking, but it seemed as though the helicopter was monitoring my activity in the park. I figured it was watching me personally since I seemed to be the only person in the entire park. 

 My last, and extremely odd, experience at the Test Site was when I spotted an area that was cordoned off with an iron gate. I, not being one to read warning signs, opened the gate and began walking into the restricted area. It was a massive empty lot, with roads stretching out all across the park. There was a building off to the side that I didn't manage to get a photo of. It seemed in good repair, unlike all the other buildings within the park. When I was finally out in the open, I saw a group of maybe thirty or forty men and women gathered around, talking outside this building. When they spotted me and my camera, they angrily told me to get out and that they would have me arrested if I didn't leave the restricted area immediately. I, of course, obliged. After I exited the area, about five large trucks (that appeared to be for construction) left the open field of gravel, spraying dust in my face as they drove by. I walked away and sat on a bench as I watched a middle aged man close and lock the metal gate to the area. He gave me a dirty look before he left. I found this entire event bizarre since there didn't seem to be a reason for so many people to be gathered in one place at once. There was absolutely no construction going on, but they all took on the appearance of construction workers. It might just be the fact that I'm prone to conspiracy theories, but it definitely looked like something fishy was going on in that gated area. 

Since I had agreed to meet my friend Noah at the Test Site before heading over to the hotel, I just remained on that bench and read a book until he arrived. Once he got there, he explained to me that he had some sort of manifest relating to the Order. He asked me if I could tell him anything about it, which I honestly said I don't know all that much about them aside from what I've read. For first hand accounts, I told him to meet with the Dark Harvest guys. I agreed to drive him over to Chris's house for a meeting after contacting Chris and Alex and making sure it's alright with them. Hopefully something useful will come out of their meeting. I'm just hoping this won't delay us getting down to Florida, because my friend Sam is waiting for us down there. 

- Daniel 

August 20th 2012 - Going to the Source

Hello again, everyone. Although I don't update this blog often, rest assured I am still around.  As far as research goes, I haven't been able to find anything of significance that I didn't already know. I also haven’t been in touch with Chris or Alex that much recently, but I am still looking for any new information that could possibly aid them in any way.

The only thing that has happened since my visit that I can make a note of was that recently someone by the name of Ryan Coleman contacted me about this blog and the Rainwood Day Camp.  I was a bit hesitant at first, but seeing as he only wanted the basic info about the place and some history, I was happy to oblige him with what I had found out and a little about the incident. 

Given my current resources there really isn’t much more that I can do to find out any new information, as I have exhausted all leads I could find via internet research.  The only way to really find anything that could be of use to Chris and Alex at this point would be to go to the source - which incidentally is what I plan on doing next.  I got some time off from work and I am going back down to Florida to visit my friends again. Since New Jersey is on my way down from Providence to Florida, I am going to take this opportunity to take a day or two to explore the Atlantic Test Site for myself.  It will be the perfect chance to perhaps find something that may have been overlooked, and maybe lead to some more insight about everything that is going on. I will be staying the night in order to give myself enough time to investigate the Test Site for myself. I’ll post my findings, if any, as soon as I can.

On the bright side, it seems like I will at least be able to have a travel buddy down to Florida.  It seems that a friend of mine, Noah, is going to be up in the area visiting his family in New York, and has agreed to travel back down with me.  This is good for the both of us, I am sure we could both use the company. New Jersey to Florida is a long, boring as hell drive. I'll see you all later, and thanks to everyone for your patience (I never update this damn thing). 

- Daniel

April 4th 2012 - Road Trip

Hey guys, this is Daniel again. Despite my severe lack of posts on this blog, I assure you I’ve not forgotten about it. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to make any new posts as I’ve been keeping really busy lately with school and work, although I have been enjoying my spring break. I’ve been keeping in contact with the guys from Dark Harvest in New Jersey, especially Alex. Chris hasn’t really been communicating with me much and oftentimes avoids my e-mails and especially my messages on Skype. Alex was hesitant but eventually told me the reason why.

Regardless, I’ve been trying to help them out as much as I can by doing more research on the Atlantic Test Site and this Marc McComber guy. As far as Marc McComber goes, the story that was told to them by Heather McComber seems to check out okay, except for some minor points that seems a bit confusing. There was an M. McComber that was admitted to Greystone Psychiatric Hospital in 2001. This is extremely strange, as this hospital had a bad reputation for a high rate of suicide and abuses by the staff. The complex itself was already mandated by the State to be shut down in 2003 when Mr. McComber was admitted (which was also strange, as I’m almost positive by this time the hospital was not admitting any new patients). His record is very short and it ends a few months after his admission. His records claim he was transferred out of that hospital and to another one. I’m not sure if this was just to cover up the fact that the hospital lost one of their patients or the fact that he really was transferred to another hospital, perhaps without Heather or her family realizing it. Although, the latter choice seems to honestly be less likely in my opinion.

The Atlantic Test Site is a much harder case to crack. Any and all information I find about it states it was a site used by NASA to monitor the Sputnik Satellite during the Cold War, and after the war it was converted into a state park. Not much more information can be found than that, which is a direct contradiction to the information found in the documents Chris obtained from Heather, stating that it was a top secret military facility.

Now this week I’m going to be heading down to Florida to visit some friends who live there and I’m driving. I live in Providence, RI, so it is a bit of a drive. I contacted Alex and said I would be passing through New Jersey and I might as well stop by and meet him and Chris. I have some information I’d like to give them personally. Alex gave me an address; he said it wasn’t his own home but will most likely be there when I come to Jersey. I was a bit confused by this but agreed to meet him there. I hope they take heed of what I’m going to tell them. 

- Daniel

EDIT:
This is a recording of when I arrived at Jeff's house and my conversation with the DH guys.