OVERNIGHT'S Haunted Homies E2: Cory's Lift Malfunction

Cory's experience:

"I didn't tell you about this, but this was about a month or so ago when we were at the Stanley, and I go and get in the elevator and it's about to close, and this little girl, she puts her hand and stops it, and she goes 'is it okay if I get in here with you?' And I was like 'yeah, that's fine'. So, she gets in and the door closes and in the elevator, you know, we press the number but it's not moving and I'm like 'I wonder why it's not moving?' And she goes 'oh, it's the kids' and I go 'what do you mean it's the kids?' She goes 'it's the kids here, I've been hanging out with them' and I was like 'okaaay' and she's like 'yeah, they're on the', oh I don't remember what floor she said, she's like 'they're on the third floor', or something like that, and I was like 'all right'. So then it goes up, and then she gets out and she walks away, when then she comes back and looks at me and she goes 'they like you' and then runs away. This is all off camera, like, I don't even know if that little girl was real, like, for weeks I'm like 'was that a real person?' "

Summary of activity:

1. Delayed lift start

2. Little girl communicating with spirits

3. Potential full body apparition and communication

My thoughts:

Even though I know this is only a short experience with no Q&A segment, I felt it worth highlighting in it's own post as even though it is short, it is still interesting. While Corey is recounting the experience, he is talking to Elton; another member of the OVERNIGHT investigation team. When he mentions the Stanley, he is referring to the infamous Stanley Hotel which is the location Stephen King wrote 'The Shining', and the 'Overlook Hotel' from that book is inspired by the Stanley Hotel along with its alleged hauntings. The OVERNIGHT team investigated a room in the hotel and have uploaded the videos to their YouTube channel. I'm assuming Corey is referring to their trip to the hotel when they created those videos. 

I find his recollection of the experience interesting for a couple of reasons. Firstly, he mentions that the little girl claims to 'hang out' with the child spirits in the hotel. We can assume the kids she has referred to are spirits as she claims they've delayed the lift starting as it is something living kids wouldn't be able to do. It is often believed that younger people, and kids in particular, are more sensitive to the paranormal. This detail of the experience backs that up. It is also believed that spirits can mess with technology, which brings me onto the second point: the experience recalls spirits potentially being behind what seemed like a technological malfunction. Now, it could just be a case of the lift was perfectly fine but just took longer that lifts usually do due to how it was made. It isn't a lift Corey would have been in often, and when in a lift with strangers time can seem to pass much slower. The two things that don't line up with that thought are the fact he had a short conversation with the kid before it moved, and the fact the kid said the kids had caused the lift to not start yet. 

The third interesting point is that Corey acknowledges he doesn't even know if the girl was real. It's a shame he didn't film any of it, and this I find tends to be the unfortunate way with the experiences regarding extreme paranormal activity. I think the girl was likely real, albeit creepy if she literally ran off after stopping, turning back to him, and saying 'they like you'. It would be fascinating though if there are other claims of encountering a little girl in a similar way to Corey. If these claims exist, then I would lean more towards her being a spirit. Regardless of if she was a spirit, it still raises an interesting question: if spirits do exist, how many do we encounter without even realising? 

In my post about Alton Towers, I talk about a spirit who is said to haunt the gardens and that the gardener to begin with thought he was just an actor hired to entertain the guests. In my Althelhampton Hall post, I talk about how a woman was relaxing in a room when suddenly two men passed through while sword fighting but when she questioned someone about who the two men were she was told there was no one in the building unknown to her. In my Chillingham castle post I wrote about how a woman begged a guard for water and upon his return she had not only vanished, but the guard realised she had entered a room which was locked from the inside. These experiences, or at the very least stories, seem to be common from location to location where someone encounters someone but then is left baffled and questioning if that person was ever real. Not only does this trend suggest to me that full bodied apparitions can occur, but that when they do they are so convincing that, unless you are actively seeking out spirits at the time, you would be none the wiser that you have just interacted with a spirit. 

This kind of post is exactly what I was hoping for from writing about people's experiences and writing about various haunting locations. I expect to see a consistency somewhere between it all, and I'm glad that there seems to be at least one consistent thing. Of course, Corey could be lying though. All these people could be lying, they could just be nothing more than stories, or perfectly ordinary events heightened into something new by the storytellers mind whether intentionally or not. After all, the big issue with these experiences is we just have to take their word for it. As for Corey though... as he is part of an investigation team, I would like to think he hasn't just made the experience up on the spot. I think the fact he couldn't remember the floor number may point to the fact he hasn't made it up. I haven't looked into the OVERNIGHT team like I have with others, so I don't know how credible they are as individuals yet, and I haven't reviewed any of their investigations so can't comment on how good they are as investigators. This means I can't judge Corey just yet. I do however, from watching the Haunted Homies videos, think he seems genuine. I've also seen a few of their investigations, and even in those he doesn't seem likely to fake stuff or to hinder any real investigating. He seems very much to believe it all and to be going with the flow. At least, they're my general impressions of him.

So, that's it for this post. Sorry it's shorter than usual, but I did feel this particular experience really needed highlighting as it really does ask the crucial question of 'how many spirits have we encountered without knowing?' It's just food for thought. There is also the possibility that the kid knew the reputation of the hotel, or who Corey was, and so was just messing with him. This also seems like it could be likely, so really it could all have just been a wierd kid messing with him in a space he wasn't accustomed to. 

Thank you for reading to the end of this post! I really hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments whether that be about the blog, experiences of your own, or even places you would like for me to investigate, then you can comment and follow on here, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Reddit, and you can email thetrueparanormal1@gmail.com for a quick response to any questions.