I had the best weekend ever at the Beyond Reality Event at the Mt. Washington Hotel in NH. Getting to spend time with all of my new friends was an amazing experience! I’ve never laughed or smiled so much before. My art for the charity auction Saturday night raised $350 for the causes and I’m so grateful to the bidder. It feels great to help out a good cause (for this benefit it was two really great causes) and I’m happy I was able to do something to help. In total I believe the auction raised over $7,000 and it was a really great moment. I’ve tried to upload a ton of photos from the event so you can see some of thestuff that happened.

During the investigations the biggest personal experiences for me came Sunday night when I was investing in the group lead by Joe and Dianna Avena of Roswell Georgia Paranormal Investigations.

With several K-II meters on the ground and the group’s digital recorders going, Dianna began an EVP session to see if we could make contact with any spirits in the South Tower at Mt. Washington. To everyone’s surprise the KII’s started to answer to Dianna and Joe’s yes or noquestions. It was very exciting and interesting to see.

When the question ‘Are you a male?’ was asked, it lit the lights up on the KII to answer yes. When asked it’s age through a series of questions, it became clear it was 30 years old. It was also asked if there were more spirits in the room and most of the KII meters when off stronger than any other time during the session. I personally noted a cold spot around the KII’s in front of me during the session. Jay and Grant joined us during the session as the questions had begun. It was really cool to be in the same room as Grant asked questions and got some very strong responses from the K-II. I really learned a lot about the field by observing this investigation.

I can’t wait to apply what I learned from my time at Mt. Washington to Tara Normal.

I took a lot of notes from Kris, Kristyn, Steve, Dave, Joe, Dianna, Jay and Grant at the show and I have a better understanding of how theyeach go about investigating and their different perspectives.

I’m going to have some more in depth stuff this week as right now I really have to get some sleep finally!

Thanks again to everyone (especially Holly Griffith!!) with Beyond Reality Events and the TAPS crew for letting me be a part of the event. It was a dream come true for me. If you get a chance to go to one of these events, I really would recommend it if you are interested in the paranormal and Ghost Hunters.

We here at Tara Normal have great respect for real-life investigators of the paranormal and TAPS Family members who want to help people claiming to be experiencing paranormal activity. Haley Wright, the founder of Queen City Paranormal, based out of Manchester NH, was kind enough to feature Tara Normal on her paranormal blog and we’re honored! Please check out her blog and you can find out all about her investigations of the paranormal. Plus I like the name of her blog because it’s my name too!

Her paranormal group’s website also features EVP’s from their investigations! Very cool stuff!

We here at TaraNormal.com are lucky enough to have our first paranormal investigator interview with Kristyn Gartland, Ghost Hunters cast member and TAPS Case Manager. Kristyn is extremely well respected in the field of paranormal investigation and she teaches the highly regarded Paranormal 101 classes. She also has a hell of a throwing arm as I have seen her pelt a moving target with a cookie from several yards away. Kristyn and TAPS member Brian Stephenson created Anomalie to help investigators make carrying their equipment easier and far more effectively. Their first Anomalie event takes place on August 1st at the U.S. Hotel in Hollidaysburg, PA and I spoke to Kristyn about this event and more!

Q: As every reader of Tara Normal knows, I’m a big fan of the Anomalie brand. In each investigation, Tara wears and uses Anomalie gear. I know you and Brian have been working hard for the release of the first line of bags. When do you expect them to be on sale?

Kristyn: Hopefully we will put them on sale this week or next. We are taking pre-orders and shipping them right to you.

Q: How did you guys come up with the idea for creating Anomalie?

Kristyn: We were fed up with carrying all the equipment and shoving stuff in our socks!

Q: Your 1st Anomalie event is this weekend at the US Hotel in Pennsylvania. What inspired you to choose the location?

Kristyn: We had heard a ton of stories, we visited it and voila, our first Anomalie event.

Q: It sounds like a really creepy location to investigate but you guys are also holding several informative lectures as well. I know that you teach the Paranormal 101 class for TAPS. What do you think is an important tip for any new investigators starting out in the field?

Kristyn: Don’t do it because it’s on TV, do it because you love it and honestly care about people and helping them. Read, read and read. Come to Paranormal 101 to learn more of course. There is only 1 original Paranormal 101 you know…

You can find out more about Paranormal 101 classes at Kristyn’s website http://www.blackcloudabove.com. It is amazing chance to learn so much about the field.

Anomalie’s website http://www.anomalieparanormal.com/ features all of the information for the August 1st event and guests as well information on the gear!

Make sure to keep reading the Area 51 Paranormal Blog here at TaraNormal.com for more exclusive interviews with real-life paranormal investigators!

Even though taking pictures of badly dressed people at Walmart is all the rage right now, there are still those people out there that like the old-fashioned hobby of taking pictures of folks that are no longer with us: ghosts! A Malaysian family claims they have captured a ghost on camera while they were in a cemetery.

Here’s the photo:

It looks pretty creepy but to me it seems like it could be a statue or just a bunch of shapes that our mind would read as a face. This is known as matrixing. Check out this great article by TAPS Co-Founder Grant Wilson on the subject.

What do you think of the photo?

To us at TaraNormal.com it kinda looks like the Cat Ghoulie!

Read the full article and see more of the cellphone “ghost” photos at AsiaoneDigital!

Getting to create illustrations of the Ghost Hunters team to be used in their events’ charity auctions has been a dream come true for me. I’m lucky to get the chance again as I get to create another piece to help benefit the Beyond Reality charity auction next weekend at the Stanley Hotel. I wasn’t able to be there in person this year, but I really want to visit the Stanley because it’s the hotel that The Shining was based on. And as you may know, The Shining is my favorite film.
For the first time anywhere, below is your first chance to look at my newest Ghost Hunters/TAPS caricature portrait and everybody in it is doing their best Shining imitation. It will be on auction next week- good luck to all the bidders!
Happy Halloween everybody!

UPDATE: My Ghost Hunters Shining poster sold for a great amount for charity to a very lucky bidder at the Stanley. Congratulations! Thank you again to Holly, Britt, Amy, Kris, Jason & Grant and Beyond Reality Events for letting me draw them! This poster’s charity amount doubled my first poster for the group. I can’t wait to create the next one!

As you might have read in last week’s comic update, Tara Normal is now appearing in TAPS Paramagazine! The first issue to feature my comic is the January/February issue. It’s a dream-come-true scenario for me and I can’t wait for you to see the first comic. Below is a preview of the first adventure and it guest stars Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, founders of TAPS and stars of SyFy’s hit show, Ghost Hunters. It takes place at TAPS Headquarters in Rhode Island and it was a blast to draw.
Order/subscribe online today!

The next Tara Normal comic in the March/April issue of TAPSparaMagazine guest stars Kris Williams & Amy Bruni. Amy thinks she has found the creepiest EVP ever. She may surprised by the results…
Make sure to subscribe today so you don’t miss any of Tara’s adventures and the great new look of the magazine. Editor Scotty Roberts has done an amazing job. The magazine looks better than ever!

http://www.tapsparamag.com/subscription.php

Here’s a preview of my new art poster for the Beyond Reality Events charity auction this weekend at the Mt. Washington Hotel. Hope to see you there!

UPDATED WITH MORE AWESOME PHOTOS!
What an amazing couple of days we had at Mt. Washington in NH this year! I wouldn’t be lying if I said I had one of the best times ever. I got to hang out with all of my friends from TAPS and Beyond Reality and take part in a crazy investigation in the Princess Room at the hotel too! I’m also very pleased to say that the artwork I created for the event helped raise $1500 for the charity auction. The auction was to held to raise money to benefit the Charles R. Foley Jr. Gilmartin Foundation which helps families when their child has cancer. Charles was an amazing child who was taken from this earth too soon. It’s truly a great cause so please take the time to check it out and donate.

Some exciting news to come out of the event is that Grant Wilson and I brainstormed some ideas for a new series of limited-edition art prints I will making for the TaraNormal Shop. These things are going to be amazing and I can’t wait to start creating them.

It was rough to have to leave this year and get back to reality after such an awesome trip. Thank you again to Holly Griffith for letting Shelley and I be a part of it. She did steal Shelley away from me so they could go look for wild animals leaving me to draw all day with no breaks or fresh air intervals in between huffing Sharpies but hey, I’m not gonna complain.

A big thank you to Christina who got me an anniversary cake in honor of Tara Normal turning 1 year old! She also got me balloons (which are not allowed in Mt. Washington!) and a very nice card. Christina is an awesome supporter of the site and the stories I tell. It was very special to me.

Congratulations to Michelle who won the TAPS Mt. Washington art print I made for the auction. She promised she was going to win this year and she did not disappoint. She already framed it and it looks amazing.

Talented musician Raven Quinn and I signed limited edition art prints created of my drawings of her graphic novel character at the event as well! These prints are now on sale at Raven’s store. I’m really proud of this piece. Make sure to get one before they’re sold out!

We are still reviewing our evidence caught on the investigation so I will save that for another entry. Right now enjoy some pictures from our time at Mt. Washington!