S.P.I.R.I.T.

Location: Fort Belle Fontaine is located on the southern shores of the Missouri River in north St. Louis County. The fort was established in 1805 as the first US military post built west of the Mississippi. It was in use until 1828 when it was abandoned and military operations in St. Louis shifted to Jefferson Barracks. The fort's location was home to such historic events as a camp site for the Lewis and Clark expedition and the launching point for Zebulon Pike's (for whom Pike's Peak is named) explorations of the lower Louisiana Purchase territory.

Reports of paranormal activity at the area center around an area of the ruins known as the Grand Staircase. It seems that a number of people have been able to photograph an anomaly that resembles a dark red smoke on the first and second tiers of the stair case. Other things such as unusual feelings and sounds have been reported as well.

Conditions: The investigation took place between 4:00 PM and 5:30 PM. The temperature averaged 64 degrees and the relative humidity was 32 percent. The moon's phase was waning gibbous, 64 percent of full. Solar x-ray levels were normal and the geomagnetic field was quiet.

Equipment Used: Canon 10D DSLR with a 380EX Flash, Sony V1 digital camera, Extech 480823 EMF Detector, Extech EX410 Multimeter, Olympus DS-30 digital audio recorder, Radio Shack Thermometer/Hygrometer.

Results and Analysis: Visual spectrum photography revealed two anomalies. Infrared photography did not show anything out of the ordinary. EMF sweeps showed no anomalous activity. No thermal disturbances were noted either. Audio analysis did not show anything out of the ordinary.

Unfortunately, we were unable to capture the red mist phenomenon that was reported. However, after a thorough examination of the area, we could not find anything that would seemingly cause this activity either.

This photo was taken early on in the investigation, actually before the sun set. Something that upon closer magnification appears to be a bright blue orb shaped object appears in the lower corner of the frame. It should be noted that since it was still light out, the flash was not used in this image - thus minimizing the chance of a reflection.

This is a little larger view of the anomaly. Nothing resembling this was recorded in any of the other 100 or so images that were taken over the course of the investigation.

Our opinion on images like this and the following orb image, is that they, by themselves, are not evidence of any spirit or entity's presence. The definition of "paranormal" is something "beyond the range of normal experience". In over 1500 images shot with this particular camera, nothing resembling the above phenomenon has ever been recorded. This still doesn't rule out the possibility of a perfectly scientific explanation of this (camera malfunction, lens flare, or reflection). However, 1 out of 1500 does fit the definition of "beyond the range of normal experience" which is why we present images like these. Our goal is merely to document activity that isn't easily explained away with normal means. We don't claim to be "experts" in the paranormal by any means, so we invite others to draw their own conclusions from these images - do they have perfectly logical explanations, or are they evidence of something else?

Photographic Anomaly Two:

This orb photo was captured at the top of the first tier of stairs. This was captured while using a flash after dark. This photo has been lightened a little bit for ease of viewing.

Here is a closer crop of the above orb. At first glance, it almost appears to be a part of the tree, but another control image shot from the same perspective immediately afterwards did not reveal anything in the area. Nor did the photo show this particular orb anywhere in the scene. Shots were also taken of the scene in infrared which didn't show anything either.

Images like this fit our definition of "beyond the range of normal explanation" since it is an instance of 1 out of 100 where we get something like this. We use digital SLRs with external lighting almost exclusively because it eliminates the majority of cases of dust or other particulate reflection. We once again emphasize that a photo like this isn't evidence of a "ghost" but merely something which cannot quite so easily be explained.