The Atco Ghost

By Chris Chaos

Atco New Jersey.  There has been a story circulating in the area for decades, a ghost story, a fable, legend...but is it based in truth? Atco is named after the Atlantic Transport Company. Or was it named from an old Indian word for "Land of Many Deer"?

 The Atco Ghost video (Axis Video)

Legend has it that many years ago, on Christmas night, a young boy was chasing his basketball into the street and was hit by a speeding car, whose driver may have been drunk, killing him instantly. The driver decided to run for fear of what he just did, he had to perform a U-Turn since this road is a dead end. The person in the car had to pass the body of the child that he just hit. Hence why it is part of the legend that you must drive to the gate of the sewer plant and then turn around.

[1]

Alternative stories state that a truck leaving the factory at the end of the road hit the child after he ran into the street chasing his ball he just received on Christmas.

On Burnt Mill Road in Atco they say that under VERY specific circumstances, you can see the ghost of this boy playing in the street. The legend states that if you go to Burnt Mill Road in Atco NJ at midnight and park three telephone poles away from the opening in the fence of the sewer plant (where a crack splits the road from one side of the road to the other) and face the area in front of the house (approx the 500/600 "block") and honk your horn 3 times, blink your headlights 3 times and wait....and IF the conditions are right, you may just see a little ghostly boy run into the road chasing the ball in slow motion. Some say that if you turn off your car and walk about 20 feet away you might see the boy appear and look into the car to see if it was the one that killed him. There supposedly have been many eyewitness accounts attesting to this over the years, but many of the people telling the story state that they have not seen anything but...their cousin, brother, uncle, or whoever has seen the ghost of this boy.

[2]

Burnt Mill Road comes off of the Old White Horse Pike and leads to a sewer plant and then promptly fades into a dirt road (that used to be traveled by horse and wagon) and now only an ATV could traverse, finally ending into Fleming Pike near Sandy Causeway. There are many interesting sounding names in the Pine Barrens, here we have Swamp Road Wild Cat Branch and the Sleeper Branch. If you follow the various soft sanded roads you could find yourself on Rt 206, along the Mullica River or on your way to Batsto.

Google map of Burnt Mill Road, star marks location of The Atco Ghost

Atco, in the middle of the Pine Barrens...Atco Raceway [3]..people like to drive fast. Burnt Mill Road is a long straight road that cars can build speed and maybe inspired by any of the race movies of the time, people were testing their mettle along this road and set the process into motion to create the legend of the Atco Ghost.

Despite all that is contained within the legend of the Atco Ghost, there was never any record of a little boy being hit by a car (or truck) on Burnt Mill Road, and killed.

"The only ghost around here is Holy!" from the sign in front of the Atco Assembly of God [4]

For my personal experience with the Atco Ghost...in the late 90's a friend of mine familiar with the story and with the area took me to Atco one late night so we could try and experience the legend ourselves. We followed the rules and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited....but nothing happened.

Ghsthunter's video on Youtube

Uploaded on Oct 15, 2006

"On Friday the 13th 2006 I went in search of The Atco Ghost on Burnt Mill Rd in Atco NJ. I didnt realize I had caught it on film until I reviewed the tape. The ghost is a little boy that was hit by a car when he was crossing the street chasing after a ball."

 Stills supposedly of The Atco Ghost from Ghsthunter's video on Youtube

 Stills supposedly of The Atco Ghost from Ghsthunter's video on Youtube

In an interesting sidenote..when I was doing research for The Atco Ghost I was using Google Maps to track down the exact location of where you are supposed to perform the tasks to get the little ghost boy to appear....can you guess what the address is for the exact locations? ha

In the coming weeks we plan on going back and investigating further.

REFERENCES:
[1] Artist rendering of Acto Ghost boy
[2] Screenshot of the Atco Ghost location from Google Maps
[3] http://www.atcoraceway.com/
[4] http://www.atcoag.com/


(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)

"Orbs and E.V.P.s:

by Chris Chaos

ORBS:
Over the last few years there has been an onslaught of "proof" that spirits, ghosts and demons exist due to the rise of popular paranormal television shows featuring orbs. But what exactly is an orb you ask? In theory they are hovering round balls of light/energy and come in all ranges of brightness and intensities. They can be quite fast and be very erratic when captured on video. They even come in different colors and according to self-proclaimed experts, each color represents a different entity or mood the spirit is in according to enthusiasts.

Most of the pictures taken that contain orbs are obtained from dirty dusty old houses, empty hospitals, schools or prisons that have been abandoned for many years, so of course there will be a large amount of dust collected in these locations. To test this in your own house you can turn off all the lights and make a room as dark as possible, now move and shake a curtain (or a blanket) and allow a sun beam to come into the room. Chances are you will see a lot of dust no matter how clean of a house you keep. If you were to take a photo with a digital camera enabling the flash, no doubt you would capture many orbs in the photo due to the sunbeam, the flash and the dust reacting and causing reflections. You can also obtain similar results if you take a photo with a digital camera in a high humidity area, in the rain or in snow fall.

Although there is not a 100% way of saying if an orb is dust or a spirit since the dust explanation is based on science and common sense and the spirit orb is based on theory and speculation. Also there has been a rise in security cameras catching orbs or ghosts on late night surveillance footage. Usually when examined a little closer it turns out to be a bug reflecting in the night vision of the camera's capabilities.

Most of the orbs captured in photo are obtained from digital cameras and can be an imperfection/corruption in the pixels. When a photo taken with a 35mm film camera this almost never happens since it is developed straight to the film. There have been many tests and studies that have been conducted by the major camera manufactures and have also come to this conclusion, their findings can be found in a quick internet research session on their respective sites, It is a well known phenomenon and anyone that operates a camera professionally deals with this situation under un-ideal shooting locations and environments..

Now back to the popular television shows, concerning orbs, designed for the entertainment of masses:  These TV shows are made to entertain and they have to deliver and get ratings or they will not be approved for the next season. To the average person they may think that a paranormal investigation is always as exciting as what you see in the movies or on The Ghostbusters, but in truth 99% of the time an investigator is just sitting in the dark trying to stay awake while tests are being run, then the next day looking over hours of video, photos and audio that was obtained. Once in a while you will find something that looks curious but usually it has a logical explanation. So in the TV shows they have to keep the pace and keep the audience engaged, so something HAS to happen, hence why they always resort to orbs and E.V.P.S (more on that later) Sooo...orbs...spirits or nothing that a little Pledge can't take care of?

For further reading here is Dr. Bruce Maccabee concerning orbs:
http://brumac.8k.com/orb1.html

A word about E.V.P.s (Electronic Voice Phenomenon)

In addition to orbs, another tactic that TV producers use to make a ghost show more exciting and fill in dead space is to assault the audio with E.V.P.s (For a more detailed explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon)

Some dishonorable investigators intentionally manipulate the audio and add in various sounds or phrases to fool the listeners. Others gathering audio may make honest mistakes and picked up the voices/audio of their fellow team members in the background. It is highly advisable to keep the number of people on site to a minimal so it would be easier to keep track of everyone's whereabouts. More times than not many of the team members are inexperienced** at conducting audio investigations and fail to keep the silence.

In and of itself, E.V.P,s are highly unscientific to begin with. Most of the proposed recordings can be disregarded right off the bat, especially when the recording and the voice is all breathy or you can hear the voice popping their “B”'s and “P”'s. If you know ANYTHING about E.V.P.s, it is (in theory) electrically generated sounds that resemble human speech: i.e. a manipulation of the electronics. So it would NEVER be breathy nor would it pop the “P”'s and “B”’s, it would more resemble Steven Hawkins speaking device or the human voice generator that comes on most modern computers. Anyone that studied the mechanics of human speech understand that lungs, vocal cords, lips and a tongue are needed to form words. Popping "B" and "P" would actually be a fault caused by too much air passing the lips and would never occur through manipulation of electronic/speaker equipment. Obviously many of the E.V.P.s that appear on the TV shows are extremely false and misleading and not based on science, just the naiveness of the viewers.

Granted many of the famous and popular Ghost shows on television are fake and for entertainment purposes only...many well to do “Ghost Hunters” fall into this trap and become victims of apophenia (whether by video, photo or audio). Also, according to scientific reality, "ghosts" do not have the ability to appear in their human form, in theory, a "ghost" is left over energy and would appear no differently than wind, an electrical field or any other naturally occurring form in nature. More on this subject later.

**A little about qualifications:
An acceptable background to conduct "scientific" investigations would be at least something in the field of science, criminal justice, teaching, social work, or psychology. Also a firm understanding and knowledge of the electrical equipment being used is needed also. An audio and video background would be highly suggested. Considering many of the locations that the "ghost hunters" hunt are in abandoned mental hospitals, prison, schools or assorted buildings some sort of formal education and experience would be expected.

Since they are attempting to communicate with ghosts/spirits, who were once people, you would think that these “hunters” would possess better communication skills and backgrounds to actually talk to these supposed ghosts. But sadly most of the "hunters" were inspired and took a liking to some television shows and not aware of prerequisites needed to enter the field, let alone earning any credentials that would qualify them to "talk" to ghosts/spirits (or the people they were in their past life).

There are many people that do not even understand the theory and science of what an E.V.P. actually is and present badly faked or misinterpreted ones to the public which is incredibly misleading. An E.V.P. is a manipulation of an electronic recording/output device, therefore the sound of a “voice” would be more robotic sounding and would NEVER have breathy sounds nor would any letters like “P” or “B” pop. Also comes along the painfully obvious fake photoshopped pictures or the infamous orb which is usually dust, a bug or an artifact on the digital camera that the “ghost hunter” is using but not properly trained on.

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. )

Are Cemeteries "Spirit Free"?

By Chris Chaos 

Where is a spirit or ghost most likely to haunt? The location where in human form they passed away, or do they linger near where the body is kept or entombed? There are many opinions and misconceptions on this question.

    Many say that a ghost haunts the area/home/building of where the person passed away, especially when it comes to a violent death or suicide. They say that a strong bond is formed with a particular location and that is why the spirit may linger in these locations. So going with that theory it would appear that a graveyard would be incredibly peaceful and free from haunting specters. Since almost no one dies in an actual cemetery or graveyard you would think these locations to be spirit free. A cemetery is simply just a location to keep and immortalize loved ones. Their bodies, memories or ashes are kept at this location so family and friends have a place to go to and remember the dearly departed in a respectful manner. A place to come to and mourn and remember if you will.

    











 It seems that most locations that people state are haunted are long abandoned hospitals, prisons, mental asylums or houses. Which would make sense since these are also locations that the average person would fear, the unknown. The dark basement, under the bed, in the attic, these are many locations that the average person is afraid to go in alone or when it is dark, when in reality they are no more fearsome than any other location in your house. They are just rooms that you do not venture into all that often. Humans fear the unknown the most. These fears of the unknown or locations that are dark are fears left over from our primitive states, they are natural fears but have little to no rational use in the modern age. Although there is a small chance that a murderer might be hiding in your basement but other than that, what is there to logically fear in your attic or basement?

   

 Another popular theory would be that the ghost/spirit stays close to the body that it inhabited. Going with that, then houses would be minimally  haunted and graveyards would be extremely haunted and loaded with spirit activity. Following this train of thought then what would happen when a body is cremated? Would the spirit dissipate? Would it disintegrate? Would it get watered down and scatter with the ashes? Would the spirit untether itself and roam free?

   Reincarnation is a wonderfully hopeful concept that was man made and created to put a positive spin on the "afterlife". In some angles it holds true and could be based on science. The circle of life: organism dies, nutrients and meat get consumed by other animals, plants and insects; thus providing source of life for other walks of life. In some respect you do live on..through another animal or life form. But the aspect of a soul leaving one body and entering another upon death just carries no scientific weight or logic.

  

  Mankind's version of reincarnation is that when a person dies they magically are reborn in infant form randomly somewhere else on this Earth. But is this how it works? When you die, is there a soul that leaves the body? Some say that you lose 21 grams in weight when you die and they attribute this to the weight of your soul. Or does the electrical energy that was once "you" transfer over to some other non-intelligible form of Nature such as wind, light, static electricity etc?

   Dr. Duncan MacDougall ran several tests in the past on which he measured the weight of a body pre and post death, the results did vary but all bodies averaged out to weigh 21 grams less once death was confirmed.

Your thoughts?

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)