Psycho
The level of significance of what happened that night is astonishing and overwhelming. This is when events took a turn for the better (or worse, depending on how you view it). I, for one, haven’t decided. But I do know what happened was incredible.
As if the conspiring of Norman prior to this was not enough, there are still things that can amaze this old paranormal researcher. Norman showcased psychic abilities, and I am still pausing in awe at what took place. What occurred that night was something I could have never predicted. In fact, I expected nothing at all in regard to the paranormal.
Instead, what I expected that weekend was an exhausting time of filming and a few beers with an old research colleague. Those things happened, but I also walked away with new knowledge, a newborn excitement, and an invigorating renewal of purpose when it came to furthering my work with Norman. He showed me. He showed us. He demonstrated just how much more to life there was. Norman gave me the book I was waiting to write … again.
From a paranormal researcher’s standpoint, he broke the mold and opened the door to a level of understanding I had yet to see from anything supernatural before. This was another example of why I had not just thrown him away when his haunting got out of control. Events like this outweigh the past horrific circumstances.
I am writing this chapter nearly one month after the events that took place. Even so, I am still watching the video, and I am still shaking my head in bewilderment. I am more than pleased not only to have experienced this firsthand, but to know the social media world watched it live from a single, broadcasting cell phone.
I was also filming with a video camera to have a solid copy of the research that was about to take place. Both videos are still readily available to watch on social media. I recommend you check those out to further visualize what actually happened.
Just like Norman Bates, we had our own little psycho in a hotel and, ironically, he, too, was named Norman. So we began setting the stage with multiple cameras running, Norman at the center of attention, electromagnetic detectors, trigger devices, and a live stream for all the world to see. We each had our own methods, so we brought to the table a diverse trio of investigative tactics.
Preparing to investigate
The trigger devices we had in place were lighters and cigarettes. Both of these items give off heat and can burn. We all knew from our own personal experiences and the story of his origin that Norman’s very being was rooted in fire.
We figured at this point, knowing the history of Norman and fire, that maybe introducing these objects would amplify his activity. Little did we know at the time just how important they would be.
Everything just seemed to cycle perfectly that evening. It was one of those things that was just meant to be I suppose. We love our work and living the field of paranormal research. It’s always smiles and laughter in the beginning. Oh, how quickly those smiles would turn to shocked faces.
I remember saying to my now-wife back in 2008, “Smile! It’s four thirty in the morning!” She attended a class I was teaching on paranormal research, and the final exam was an overnight investigation into one of the world’s most haunted restaurants.
I always wanted to work with people who had a real passion for the paranormal field. Little did I know then that I would end up marrying Christina. And I certainly didn’t know then that we would be raising a haunted doll.
But who were we?
Christina
Christina Lancaster is my communication specialist and empath. Her skills have delivered many very successful investigations, and nobody knew Norman like her and me.
Darren
Darren Evans is one of the best I work with. His knowledge in demonology and deciphering is unmatched in my book. He was the first to ever be brought in on the Norman case outside of Christina and me.
Me
Then there is me, a guy who has lived and breathed the spiritual world since his first experience in 1987. You can say I’ve been around the block once or twice, and hell, at least I don’t look as old as I feel. As always, during the session, this phenomenologist was going to stay behind the camera for the most part.
As we were prepping for the upcoming investigation, we took turns acknowledging the people patiently awaiting the live stream of the work we were about to conduct.
It was approximately eleven thirty in the evening when Darren first launched the live stream on social media. He gave his impressions after physically seeing Norman in the plastic and burnt flesh for the first time. I hit everybody with a brief history on Norman so they could somewhat grasp what we were doing and why. It all officially started with Darren opening the case containing Norman.
Before he even opened the suitcase, Darren insisted on telling us that upon entering the room, he could feel a dark energy coming from the corner. Darren did not know what we had Norman contained in, let alone where he was in the room. So his belief was definitely noted.
Needless to say, upon opening the case, Darren was a little more than taken aback by Norman’s presence. He even paused and closed the case just to take a moment to collect himself.
First impressions
I understood where Darren must have been coming from. Norman is a lot to take in. Especially when dealing with him in person.
Darren began laughing hysterically, which I’m assuming was a nervous coping mechanism. But he collected himself well and finally revealed the man of the hour, and the investigation finally began.
Darren added to his initial reaction by stating what he was feeling now was the same as when he first walked in the room. He could sense the energy coming from Norman. He continued by telling us that he was sensing a heat signature coming from the doll, and he couldn’t find anything else as the source.
Considering all of Darren’s own personal research, he told us that he had never felt anything like this. He even added that he had worked with numerous other allegedly haunted dolls, and none of them compared to Norman.
Investigative work is a lot more than just ghouls and goblins. You have to have a vast knowledge in all things to better conclude on any given case. I pointed out the tear on Norman, the same one I described back in Chapter 2. I wanted to hear Darren’s opinion on it, considering the fact that on the side he is one of the best painters I know. Darren examined the doll further and explained for the audience that he had a vast knowledge in glossy paints, satin finishes, and all that painting encompasses. He continued by telling us that the tear on Norman was like nothing he had ever seen before. So he quickly ruled out anything man made. This was the validation I was looking for.
He also noted that the side the tear was on had absolutely no burns of any kind. Darren added once again that this was something he had never seen in a haunted doll before.
The investigation proceeded with Darren making an attempt to communicate with Norman by use of a crystal. Crystals have their own electromagnetism. They can give off vibration frequencies that can affect the paranormal realm in many different ways. The vibrations can control our nervous system and the transmission of information to the brain. This can amplify a person’s ability to communicate with a spirit by magnetically placing the human mind and the spiritual realm together. There are plenty of other uses; however, in this case, I have covered what was relevant.
Darren’s plan failed or succeeded depending on how far you are willing to go to justify what happened next. As Darren was attempting communication with Norman, without warning, the alarm clock in the room began going off.
Of course, all of our attention was directed toward the sound while Christina was rushing over to investigate the clock. I said aloud, “Please don’t tell me that thing isn’t plugged in.” That would have truly been the icing on the cake. A little shaken, Darren just stared.
Although I was looking in that direction, the camera was not. I turned the camera around just in time to film Christina examining the alarm clock. The clock was plugged in, but there was no tangible reason for the alarm to be sounding off. It was eleven fifty-one in the evening and only twenty-one minutes after we started filming. Our investigation had just begun, and elements in the room were already being affected by Norman.
The time meant nothing to any of us; however, I was thinking that Darren somehow caused a magnetic disturbance between the crystal, Norman, and the alarm clock. It was just too coincidental to consider otherwise. I mean, Christina and I slept in the room the night prior, and the alarm never went off at the time.
Following the alarm clock incident, Darren gave up on the crystal communication and suggested we simply start attempting to get verbal responses from Norman. He kicked off our second attempt to communicate with the doll by asking Norman what he felt inside. Without hesitation, Norman replied, “Afterlife.”
All of us were taken aback, amazed and simply dumbfounded by what we had just heard. We were impressed by the fact that the entity was undeniably self aware and knew exactly what plane of existence he was dwelling in.
My research colleague Darren decided to take the investigation up a notch by utilizing one of our designated triggers. Norman had already displayed signs of intelligence, so this was a test to see how far we could take him and what that could achieve. Darren said, “I mean you no harm,” as he began flicking his lighter at Norman.
Using a trigger object
Flick after flick after flick as if he was taunting the doll. This prompted Christina to join in. She asked Norman, “Can you blow out the lighter?”
Norman answered.
He said, “No,” and I just had to laugh at the look on Darren’s face. It was of utter disbelief. He was surprised and impressed all in that single moment.
Darren composed himself once more and said that the flame was triggering more interaction. This was exactly what we had hoped for.
Darren continued firing up the lighter in sequence. One, two, three, four, five more times before Norman responded with, “Your soul.”
Darren jumped back in the chair as it scooted on its wheels away from Norman. After reacting unpleasantly, his face looked like he was auditioning for a horror movie. This session was becoming very intense.
Getting responses
Christina pressed on and asked Norman what he thought about me. As if I needed any more reassurance that the little bastard wanted me dead, he replied, “Die.”
I sarcastically thanked Christina for asking that question, and despite yet another threat against me, Darren continued on with the lighter experiment. He immediately placed the lighter behind Norman’s head and lit it. As soon as he did, Norman exclaimed, “You can’t.”
Darren instantly pulled his hand away from Norman, expecting something negative to follow that remark. We all sat in pure amazement at the interaction we were witnessing.
Darren spoke up and said, “You guys, this is incredible. The flame is triggering responses.”
As Darren put his focus back on the doll, Norman said, “Smile,” and he did just that.
Now that the mood was lighter, we decided to flip the script and put Norman back in his suitcase. Darren added to the research by pulling out a crucifix in hopes that this would get a rise out of the main attraction.
Nothing had been planned, as I mentioned, so this caught me by surprise. This was an interesting experiment to see if Norman subscribed to religion or simply used the symbolism as scare tactics.
Using a crucifix as a trigger object
Research is a mixed bag of techniques, personal opinion, and results. Religion is no different. It, too, has its place in this field and can be used either way. It can be used for exactly what it is, or it can be used to rule for or against certain aspects of an investigation. Sometimes religion is used as a defense against the darker spirits while other times it is used to validate the beliefs of an entity. If you learn that a spirit has no preference or loyalty to religion, using it as a defense would be a moot point. On the other hand, if the ghost acknowledges or even fears it, you can use that to your benefit.
Darren placed the cross on top of the suitcase, asking, “What is that?” I was sitting on pins and needles awaiting Norman’s response. From inside the case, Norman responded with, “Rage.”
Norman’s response to the crucifix
All I could hear following that was Christina drawing out, “Oh … My … God.”
At this point, that could have meant the thought of religion angered him, or the powers of religion scared him. Either way, the technique was working to further our communication session.
Darren took the cross from atop the suitcase and decided to push the envelope on this tactic and open the case to expose Norman. I’ve seen some wicked communication sessions, but this one was turning out to be one for the books.
So far, Norman had yet to address the cross other than indicating it enraged him. But that was about to change. A moment after Darren opened the case and brought the crucifix toward him, Norman said, “Hell.”
I swear I could write a whole book just about Darren’s expressions.
But I digress. Norman had said, “Hell.” That was a direct relation to the cross, Christianity, and organized religion. That one word spoke massive volumes. Although it didn’t mean Norman feared anything mystical from within religion, it did mean he was educated on the subject. Hell to a cross is like jelly to peanut butter or the devil to Jesus Christ. This meant that Norman was fully aware of what was going on around him. He made sure we knew that fact.
After Darren exclaimed his excitement and awe by saying, “Holy shit,” with conviction, we shifted the questioning in an attempt to see what else Norman could recognize. I lit a cigarette and Christina continued to question him. She asked, “Norman, do you smoke?”
Straightaway, he responded with a resounding, “Yes.”
Christina took the cigarette from me and placed it on Norman’s mouth. After a second or two, the doll reacted and said, “Incredible.” We all got a little chuckle out of that one.
Norman doing standup comedy
Darren just couldn’t help himself. He wanted to try more interaction with the flame. It worked before, but I think he wanted to push it to the limit.
Trying the lighter again
It only took one flicker of that flame to get a significant response from the haunted doll. Literally, the second Darren struck the lighter, Norman responded with a reaction none of us saw coming.
Like before, when we brought religion into the research, Norman brought up the Acherontic, the fiercest household name and the most heinous icon ever created. With a flick of that lighter, Norman said, “Devil.”
It was hard to determine if he was using those words to scare us or if he was actually saying what he believed. There is a fine line there. I am well educated and versed in many religions, yet I carry myself as agnostic. I know the devil is supposed to be this scary and frightening entity. But to me, he is nothing more than a literary character in the world’s most famous book.
Regardless, following that, we decided to turn the lights off. We had yet to really attempt interaction with him in the dark. But before we did, Darren asked Norman if he wanted us to turn the lights out.
The doll had us on pins and needles as we waited for a response. After a few seconds, Norman said, “Light.” As you can probably imagine, we turned off the majority of light sources in the room. We were in near pitch black. I personally believed he wanted the light off to create a handicap for us. If we couldn’t see, he could take advantage and surprise us much easier.
Darren flicked his lighter and asked the doll when the end of the world was.
Norman stating his opinion
Norman randomly said the name “David.”
This was completely out of place, we thought. Why would he say a name that had nothing to do with anything relevant to our current situation and the back research? We were in the dark in more ways than one. This was the first time he said something we couldn’t somehow relate to him, us, or the case.
We went on with our investigation, and at one thirty-nine in the morning, we all reacted to a sudden knock from inside the room. Of course, we asked each other about it. Nobody had moved, but we all recognized something had shifted in the room.
Now we were documenting physical interaction.
The knock sounded very close to where I was sitting. We were in the dark, so it was nothing more than a personal experience to be logged in the file. There was certainly no way we could validate its authenticity when no one could see anything.
Darren got up from the chair and turned on a single light so we would have a—somewhat dim—view of the entire room. I glanced around my surroundings to see if anything had fallen from a table or desk that could have been the cause of the sounds we heard earlier. Nothing was out of place.
Once the light was turned on, Norman decided to tell us he wasn’t resting. He said, “Not resting,” and that meant we still had his attention. Darren went back to the chair in front of Norman and sat down. It was time to experiment again. He stuck his hand behind Norman’s head and asked him how many fingers he was holding up.
Norman responded with a wise crack. He said, “Ten.” We all laughed at the impossible answer. Obviously, Darren doesn’t have ten fingers on one hand.
So we took that as Norman cracking a joke or being sarcastic. It was like he was tired of playing these games and answering our questions. But the chances of him stating a number were slim to none. That was still impressive.
Even though I felt Norman was growing tired of the questioning, he still had things in store for us. I continued on and told Norman that he knew who we all were. I told him he knew Christina, he knew me, and he knew Darren.
I was just short of saying all of that when he spouted off the name “Darren.” It is both amazing and unsettling to think just how accurate and self-aware the haunted doll was.
If that wasn’t enough to let us know he understood, he followed that up with “Parker.”
“Parker” is my wife’s maiden name. When I first met her in 2008, she was Christina Parker. I guess he addressed me earlier when he said he wanted me to die. That’s not a very comfortable feeling.
Norman knows. That’s the best way to sum it up.
As we were closing in on wrapping up the investigation, Darren placed Norman back into his suitcase and brought out the lighter once more. Just when we thought it was all over, once again, from inside the case, Norman spoke.
This time he said, “Heat.”
The whole night had been a cut above the rest.
However, Norman had one more thing to show us before we called it a night. As everything started to quiet down, our concentration was interrupted by a loud knocking at our door.
All three of us made our way to the door, expecting to see Hannah or somebody who possibly had the wrong room. Everybody knows what somebody knocking on a door sounds like. There is no denying it.
We should have been more ready for what we were about to see, because what we saw was nothing. The extremely long halls made it impossible for someone to have knocked on our door and ran away.
We also noted we had not heard any doors shut following the knocking. Nobody was there.
Norman was showing us the door. In his own way, he was telling us that it was time to cease all investigative work and pack it in for the night.
The investigation took us well beyond midnight as we drew it to a close around four in the morning. Darren still had to do some filming for our A Haunting episode in the hours to come, so it was time to call it quits. We ended completely satisfied.
I encourage you all to check out the full video this chapter’s screenshots were taken from.2 Watch the events as they happen and even see a few more occurrences that were not noted here. Just write me on social media, and I will point you in the right direction.
Even so, there was still more to come. Norman did not stop there. He continued on haunting, and it was more than just us. Now he had been touched by Darren and Darren was touched by him. With that came some very disturbing repercussions.
After the fact, we discovered that Darren’s dear friend David committed suicide by hanging himself the same night as that investigation. Either the doll predicted David committing suicide, or he was telling us he already had. It was hard to determine with the time of death being so close to our investigation time. It is absolutely crazy to think that Norman could have predicted this or even seen it happening to begin with.
Just how far of a reach did Norman have beyond those who were directly in front of him?
Norman was asked when the end of the world was and around the same time a man was taking his own life. The end of the world for Darren’s friend was happening, or had happened, and we were clueless.
I cannot say with one hundred percent certainty that Norman had anything to do with that. All I can do is offer you the pieces of the puzzle to form your own image.
We started that investigation all smiles and ended it mourning a tragedy. It was confirmed. Norman was now exhibiting psychic ability. David hanged himself in his own closet. At the time, when Norman said his name, it was a mystery, but not any longer.
We offer much love and respect to David’s family.
Darren’s dealings with Norman were far from over. Norman was about to show us just how far he was willing to go to show dominance. He was about to show us just how far he could go. Darren took a piece of Norman with him, and those pieces created a string of bizarre misfortune.
The next chapter was written by my colleague and research partner Darren Evans.
There is no better person to put into words the series of events that took place after the hotel investigation. Freakish occurrences, and an overload of fear and death, would reign for weeks. The next chapter showcases the evil he experienced following that night.
2. Stephen Lancaster and Monstervisiontv, “Norman the Haunted Doll AMAZING Investigation 2019,” Facebook, Video, February 1, 2019, https://www.facebook.com/monsterVisionTV/videos/603190670123645/.