OGDEN UNION STATION
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2010
This was UROPA’s second year participating in the ghost tours held at the Ogden Union Station. It took place October 22nd and 23rd from 8pm-12:30am. Friday night was tours only, but the second night filled the atmosphere with laughter and music from the Witchstock and dance that was held there until 10pm. There were about six other paranormal groups there who also guided the tours and set up presentations in the lobby. The tables displayed various monitors and ghost hunting equipment for visitors to see either before or after their tour.
During the tours, which had an average of 20 people, the guide would walk the group through the railroad museum, theater, backstage, atrium, basement, Wattis Dumke room, Art Gallery and lastly the Old Timers ballroom in pitch black darkness for one hour. Depending on how active the tour guide felt the room was, depended on how long they would spend in each area telling history and ghost stories and maybe even personal experiences.
During the night we captured a few EVPs and also spotted moving, figure-like shadows in the railroad museum that we could not explain.
The second night proved more eventful. Perhaps this was due to the festive activities held earlier in the night. There were five witches on the first tour, including our tour guide, Kelly. We also had the privilege of having Jared (a museum employee) accompany us on the last tour. During this last tour, there also was a family who claimed to have some experiences. One of the girls felt her hair tugged and this was blamed on the male in their group who denied it. Later, this same male claimed to be spooked by seeing a little girl apparition crouching by the door leading from the theater into the atrium. And in the basement, the same group screeched and ran out of one of the vaults, claiming to hear and see a rack move on its own. Whether these claims are real or not, we may never know. However, it definitely added to the excitement of the evening. As we had nearly finished the tour, Kelly was drawn to an office located in the hallway by the Old Timers room. The lady who works was having difficulty locking up for the night and swore that the ghost wouldn’t let her lock the door until someone went back in the room to say good bye and investigate. As Kelly walked into the room and began talking, she heard a child say ‘what’, very clearly coming from right behind her. Jared’s wife also heard it, as she was standing in front of the door in the hallway. And after Kelly left the office, the door was able to lock. This was an awesome ending to a great night.
PARANORMAL OVERNIGHT
This was just a fun, whatever goes night with John and Kelly attending. No formal investigating. There were about 60 people who showed up and had free reign to explore most of the museum. About half stayed the whole night at the Union Station, bunkering down when they got too tired. John and Kelly played a little with the Radio Shack hack device and did get some replies that seemed too coincidental. They were also the last ones standing. They ended up behind the theater, searching for the ghost children, when the security guards found them to let them know that they were the last ones awake and investigating. That was at 6:30am. Too bad there wasn’t a prize awarded for the last ones awake! Looking forward to next year’s event!
