Project Rabbit Hole - New Insights Into the Supernatural

By Al Tyas

Al Tyas uses his personal experiences as a retired paranormal investigator, case studies, research and exclusive interviews to give a new and modern look into the supernatural, how it may be changing in the dawn of a new, technological age, and new dangers that we face when we encounter these elusive beings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 4, 2019
• ISBN: 9780359755226

Book preview

Project Rabbit Hole - New Insights Into the Supernatural

Project Rabbit Hole - New Insights Into the Supernatural

Al Tyas

Lulu Press, 2019

For Rhonda,

Truth Speaker,

The Wisest;

Athena’s Pride

Begin at the beginning, the King said, very gravely, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

—Chapter 12, Alice’s Evidence

Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland

By Lewis Carroll

Library of Congress Control Number:   2019300437

Project Rabbit Hole

Copyright ©Al Tyas

Published, 2019 Lulu Press, Morrisville, NC

2019All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced, sorted, or transmitted in any form without written permission from the author.

ISBN: 978-0-359-63956-4 (softcover)

Cover design: Typografik.com

www.lulu.com

Contents

Project Rabbit Hole -  New Insights Into the Supernatural

Introduction

One: The Dark Ride

Two: It Always Starts with Hauntings

Three: Persephone's Kin, One and All

Four: From Crook to Scythe

Five: Spark in the Powder Keg

Six: When the Rabbit Hunts Us

Seven: Media, and New Problems

Eight: Attacked are the Meek

Nine: The Trickster Evolves

Ten: The Fifth Elemental

Eleven: What does the Government Know?

Twelve: Final Thoughts

Illustrations:

About the Author

Introduction

The most arduous challenge in writing a book is often the title and the introduction.  I think we underestimate this crucial element. I want to get my point across for you, the reader, and I need to capture your interest in a narrow window of opportunity. As I finished this book, I had most of my creation sitting in front of me, on a laptop screen, and I had no idea what to call it, or even how to describe what this book is about. It captures so many elements of what I learned, experienced and taught others. This book also reveals many of my mistakes in my fieldwork, and the frustrations and annoyances that often come with this territory.  Most of all, it is honest. 

Therefore, I started to ask myself if I really have a story to tell that is different from other books out there regarding the supernatural.  I must have investigated over 100 allegedly haunted places. Many of the cases were mind-blowing and yes, there was evidence that there is more out there than most people know or understand, and I experienced a lot.  The one common factor in all those cases was that I never saw a ghost while I investigated.  I believe that I saw two as a kid, one when I was seven years old back in 1979, which started it all. I saw Number 2 when I was fourteen and a third as a young adult.  Those three instances are the only ones where I know I saw something, and they all had something in common; I was not looking for anything unusual.  Instead, I was living life and had unexpected experiences.  They caught me off guard. 

By the end of my tenure as a paranormal investigator, I realized that regardless of what these beings are, if they are supernatural creatures, they would only come when they are uninvited, unexpected and often unwanted.   I did not realize that entities are like rabbits: elusive, quick, nearly impossible to catch, clever, free-willed, and always one-step ahead of the tracker.  They know how to be quiet, how to hide, how to distance themselves and merely observe.  In their own environment, they have their own complex hiding places, and they can run deep. This is why I called this book Project Rabbit Hole. I went down the hole with them, and these are my findings. 

When the living search for evidence, we rarely get it. Unlike hunting rabbits, we have no tools that trap them.  We have no weapons to hunt them, and regardless of what we think of ourselves, they outsmart us.  Yet every so often, they give us just enough rope to keep us chasing the carrot.  Then many of us realize what the carrot really is; it is not the reward; it is the bait. 

I remember years ago I knew a man who was seasoned in ghost hunting (or so I thought) and when I was brand new to the whole concept, I paid close attention to him and his methods.  This was around 1999, and there were very few ghost groups around.  The team found an alleged home in Virginia that had at least six ghosts, and one was an adult male that dominated over them all.  This was a particular concern, because at times the Alpha as I call him, slapped some family members and they were terrified of him.  He remained confined to one area of the house, where the team set up Infrared cameras. 

While monitoring, the Alpha appeared on screen.  He walked across the room, was caught on camera and recorded by a VCR.  The homeowners, and the investigators, watched in amazement.  They had the Holy Grail.  When they rewound the tape and played it back, there was just static through the entire tape.  Nothing actually recorded. I remember the investigator's frustration, and days later, when I tried to cheer him up, he read me the riot act and reacted as if I told a funny joke at his mother's funeral at her expense.  He was furious. 

Shortly after this, his group disbanded, and no one heard from him again. Through the grapevine, I learned what happened.  That ghost, Alpha, or something in that house, followed them home.  Alpha apparently disturbed the members to the point that they disbanded their group.  This case was one of a solid pattern for years to time: in a haunting, the entity would somehow do everything in its power to stifle any proof of their existence, and often it will do what it can to make the investigators life miserable.  I saw it then, I saw this throughout my tenure, and I see it now.  This will never change.  This is true with anything supernatural that we study. 

I realized the whole ghost field is elusive.  I also noticed how it had similarities with other supernatural creatures, many of whom I believe I encountered during my tenure. They all share core elements.  As I started to notice this, I began to document it all.  I realized that through my own encounters, my research, other people's encounters and that age-old track record that there are six important factors to consider when dealing with the supernatural:

All members of the Supernatural Family are related, and have the same core elements.  Delving deep we find that ghosts, Aliens, elementals, Djinn, poltergeists, demons, and any beings that fall into this family have the same behaviors and patterns, it is just that some are more dangerous than others.

They often act on deception, trickery, lying, and deceit and may be more dangerous than we realize. 

They are far smarter and more advanced than we are, and we will never have the proof we are looking for to prove their existence. They offer us just enough of the carrot to keep us following, but we will never learn who operates the stick.

They will always be part of our culture, and exist in media, entertainment, and stories, and if something involving them appears too fantastic to be true and filmed for entertainment, it most likely is a hoax. 

They play some sort of game, and we are in the middle of it.  In some ways, they are as interested in us as we are of them, but while they fascinate us, we humor them. 

They will eventually harm us the more we become engrossed with them and strike when we least expect it.  They never act on cue, ever. 

My work here shows our elusive friends in a unique, modern light. They adapt to technology; they know how to elude our gadgets.  They study and use knowledge to their advantage.

I identify each known member of the family how they are alike, how they are harmful, and how they always win the battle.  I use my own life experiences, and how they impacted me.  I interviewed others, I researched, and after many years of searching, I walked away from it all.  I found the answers to the questions I asked, but the answers were not what I expected. 

The Big Picture:

We live in a world that parallels another world.  Most people are not aware of this.  Generally speaking, we live in a world that is often polarized.  One side is science and reason, as the result of the Age of the Enlightenment.  We rely on medicine, technology, and science to make our lives easier and help us live longer.  Most of us have a limited curiosity about how and why things happen.  We learn about gravity, and how wounds heal.  We learn how to operate appliances, and why it snows in the winter.  We learn, we grow, and we evolve.  On the other side of this coin is the religious element.  We want to learn whom, if anyone created the universe.  We want hope in a world that contains misery and suffering.  We want justice, and we want peace.  We also know that our duration on this planet is very brief, and we wonder why we are here, and if there is anything more to our existence after we are gone.  For these answers, we usually turn to religion.  The vast majority of people on this planet believe in some sort of god, or a creator of all.  Moreover, this often puts us in conflict with the logic and science that manifests to make our lives better.  We see a lot of this conflict nowadays; we wonder what God likes, and wants, and we have a moral obligation for equality and fairness for people.  Each of these two groups want the best for humanity, and yet they are often enemies based on science versus religion.  The world is polarized.

There is a third leg to this: one that far less people dare to lean on.  This is the area of mystery, the unknown and the occult.  This area confuses both the scientist and the minister.  The scientist sees no tangible evidence of this spiritual realm, or its occupants, and usually scoffs at the notion of anything relating to the paranormal or the supernatural.  Ghosts, UFOs, Djinn, Elementals, Apparitions, and all of Persephone's kin in the Underworld fall into fairy tales and mythology.  Some in this community, as individuals, will harbor an iota of interest for this subject, but few scientific communities will take the study of the occult seriously, so it remains in the realm of fantasy.  Religion also frowns upon these subjects.  The occult is the realm of Satan, and those scary beings propped on porches on Halloween are not to be taken seriously.  Witches, ghosts, and anything paranormal, sans angels, are evil and not to be played with or else one can fall into sin or lose faith.  After all, we will all learn the truth eventually since our time on Earth is so limited. The Bible says so.  This third leg is what has always interested me. 

I have been a paranormal investigator for about seven years, and a writer and researcher for many more.  Not long, compared to many, but long enough to look at what is behind the curtain and see for myself what is actually happening, if anything regarding the supernatural.  This is partially my story.  I talk about my life, why I entered into the paranormal realm, and what I learned from it, why I chose to leave and how I will never investigate the unknown again. My life was a journey into the unknown, and now I am writing this book to share what I learned based on my personal experiences as well as my cases and interviews with others.  In this book, I look at the big picture, and try to support my conclusions with solid evidence through my research, interviews, past cases and personal experiences as a paranormal investigator. I use my own accounts, to the best of my memory.  Then I reach out to others, men and women who understand this field of study, who have invested many years into the research and have impeccable reputations. 

What I have learned is simple, but not easy for some to digest.  This area of study is dangerous.  My Red-Pill regarding the supernatural was a combination of what I learned in field experience and what I read from the experiences themselves.  Years ago, I started to develop a sense that the paranormal was far more than disembodied footsteps and tales of objects moving, when no one ever looking for activity would experience the phenomena directly, or with video proof.  If there was what looked like video proof, it would become dismissed as either natural or hoaxed, and never a truly supernatural occurrence. So, I began to think about this.

This is my memoir of more well-known cases that I have shared with others, and how these events impacted my beliefs and decisions.  I will talk about some of the more unusual occurrences: how I went from a curious borderline skeptic, to someone with daily inner conflict. The reality that I have witnessed defied logic and reason.  My research started with ghosts, but soon moved on to other more powerful and deceptive beings.  Where I had a lack of examples, I reached out and interviewed those who had their own experiences.  The people that I interviewed and who worked alongside me that I describe in this book have stellar reputations and solid experience.  Where I found evidence that did not add up in particular events, I question that as well, in order to find the answers.  This book is a memoir, a collection of cases, a catalog of astral beings, a measure of sound advice, a list of warnings, a grimoire and the truth, to the best of my knowledge. 

My opinions here are my own, and do not reflect any other individuals or institutions, and I write this book as a private citizen.  Most of the individuals mentioned in this book have had their names changed for the sake of anonymity unless they are consultants or professionals that gave me permission to use their real names and are well known to this area of study.   All material that I researched gives credit to the author for his or her ideas, photographs or published works.  The conclusions are mine.

Buckle Up:

This book is a ride.  A dark ride, to be exact, in 1979.  After sharing some early experiences, I delve into what these elusive beings are and what they are not.  I will do my very best to show that all these beings are connected, regardless of people's differing interests.  I will also show how deception and manipulation are usually present when dealing with the supernatural.  These beings are not new.  Humans have studied the ideas of death, hauntings, celestial beings and even inter-dimensional travel since the ancient world.  We will ride a proverbial motorized car down a rabbit hole through time, meeting gods, ghosts, denizens of the Afterlife, nature spirits, UFOs, aliens, and other mysterious creatures and how they have changed over time and yet their antics always remain the same.  The ride will take us through modern hauntings, UFO investigations, possessions and new ideas and concepts that face us globally with the dawn of the Digital Age.   We will visit, and revisit places across the globe. This includes the emergence and decline of various entities, their realms and empires, and how technology affects the supernatural, the government's interaction and what to expect in the future.  This will be a fast ride, hopefully an entertaining ride, and one that I will stay on with you until the end.

Finally, I want to thank all the great people that helped me write this book.  The consultants, the people that corresponded with me and shared their stories, those who read chapters ahead of time, those who trusted me to get their message out and while protecting their anonymity.  It was an honor to meet all of you, and I am humbled that you shared your experience.  I will mention no one who helped me by name, for sake of anonymity, but thank you. 

Now fasten the safety belt, our mechanical car is about to roll down the track into the black hole and the world below...

One: The Dark Ride

In the summer of 1979, my family took my sister and me to a popular amusement park in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.  That summer I turned seven years old, and my sister was nine.  I remember nothing about the outing except for the dark ride experience.  As a child, I never liked the dark ride in any amusement park, and I remember this one in particular had ominous statues peering over its facade with large bulging eyes and long noses.  The grinning trolls were enough to keep me on the other side of the rail with my mother, as my sister and my aunt climbed into a motorized car and went into the building. I watched them, and only them, in the car enjoying the dark ride like any other (except the Ferris wheel, which always terrified my sister).  I remember the ride was lighted, so it was the evening, and this was likely one of the last rides before heading home.

I watched the people exiting from the ride, each climbing out of their motorized car, waiting for my family members turn to exit the creepy monstrosity. They did come out but had someone sitting between them.  A little black girl sat between my sister and my aunt, and when they came out my mother chuckled, so I assumed she knew about the guest between them.  My sister and aunt left the car, and the little girl yelled out some sort of delighted exclamation and ran into the crowd.  What I remember about her was unusual: she was not dressed like a child at an amusement park in 1979. She was dressed more like a schoolgirl from the early 1960s.  She wore a white blouse, a dark gray jumper, white socks and black shoes.  It was so unusual that I remember the outfit well.  I asked my sister about her new friend, and she and my aunt had no idea what I was talking about.   Years later, I approached the subject again, and nowadays my sister adamantly denies any little girl sharing that car with her and my aunt at that park.  Forty years later, she still asserts that there was no little girl...and quickly drops the subject.

I never knew why I saw this child.  My mother vaguely remembers seeing her, and at her age, her memory is fuzzy.  I know what I saw, and I grew up knowing that no one would believe that I saw a ghost sitting between my sister and my aunt from a dark ride in 1979.   Regardless, as a native-born New Englander, I heard all the stories of ghosts, witches, vampires and even occasional American Indian curses.  Many of were second and third generation Americans, and we heard the stories from our grandparents and great-grandparents who came here from Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Quebec.  I had some other odd experiences over the years, but I grew up and eventually moved to the Washington, DC area when I was twenty-four, taking an entry-level job as a museum sales clerk while volunteering as a tour guide on weekends. 

I worked in a very old building on a vacant wing, pricing inventory for a busy gift shop.  I soon began to notice unusual activity in the room, such as a shadow-being in a corner that seemed to shrink when I noticed it.  I was unnerved and made the fatal mistake of mentioning it to my colleagues.  This was not New England; this was a cosmopolitan, politically charged city and no one seemed to have time for these old backwoods stories.  My co-workers quickly but professional dismissed my accounts and I heard murmurs about the new guy being kind of...weird.  One woman, who worked in the information booth, validated me, and told me she hated that wing and never, ever walked down there after sundown. 

One day I was working in one of the stockrooms with an older African-American gentleman who generally stayed behind the sales counter.  As we ticketed merchandise, a doorknob directly behind him turned, and the door behind him gently pushed open by itself.  We watched it together, and he simply said, I'm not going to talk about this to anyone, you shouldn't either and went back to working.  He never did bring it up.  It made me wonder if they, my skeptical co-workers knew something was happening but simply did not discuss it. 

Finally, the day came along when I met a security guard after a tour-guide shift on a Saturday afternoon who served in the Air Force.  I do not know how the subject turned to haunts but it did.  He began telling me about a haunted hangar on an air base, and how he heard so many stories about hauntings during his time in the military, and he documented them in a large book.  I was eager to listen, and I began to ask more people about their experiences.  I realized that some people were willing to share them, if approached the right way.  I heard their stories.  These were educated, professional people.  Not only did I hear about ghosts and hauntings, but also UFOs.  I learned that in 1952 a band of UFOs circled the U.S. Capitol dome.  I learned stories of a giant cat that haunted the building's crypt.  I also learned that when the Suffragists used the old building on the site where the U.S. Supreme Court now stands were often terrified by the sounds of men shouting and banging on metal as the building erected there then served as a jail during the Civil War.  I started to find Washington, DC fascinating.

In 2001, I joined a newly formed paranormal investigation group focused on collecting data from ghosts and hauntings.  The group was Virginia wide, and soon I left and founded a group focused exclusively on the Washington, DC Metro Area.   I had a team, investigations every weekend, sometimes two investigations on one evening and a large case file.  We became featured in the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the Smithsonian Magazine and the Travel Channel, and I slowly learned to hate it.  Looking back, I did not like the leadership role, and running a ghost group was very rewarding, but also very painful.  The most difficult part of it all was oddly simple: I found what I was looking for, and I did not like it.  I did, however write a small book on some of the places that I investigated and published it in 2006.  My attitude changed so much since then I wish I did not write it, and I ceased all future printings of it. 

The cases became more and more complicated.  They did not fit into what I knew of a ghost haunting an area.  Often they, whoever they were, followed me home.  They began to impact me in unexplained, emotional ways.  Spiritually I felt like there was no good on this plane because I was coming across so much evil.  I had cases involving witchcraft, Satanism, conjuring, and in many cases, what I thought were ghosts were actually elementals, shadow-beings, and Djinn.  Some cases were simple: detect a ghost, rule it harmless, maybe the family can co-exist.  Others, not so simple. One case nearly drove me to my breaking point.  Finally, after one last trip overseas that I am still reluctant to discuss thirteen years later, I had enough and knew then that my life, and my health, felt in jeopardy.  I will not elaborate on this incident, because I fear to do so could awaken something that I believe is finally dormant.

After five years, I needed to leave the field before it killed me.  In the beginning, I was 28, young, strong, positive-minded and healthy.  Within the next five years my health drastically deteriorated, I had a severe car accident that nearly killed me and doctors had to put my right leg back together. I no longer slept, developed anxiety and made more enemies within the paranormal community than I can remember.  Much of this was poor decisions on my behalf,