Question: I was just wondering if along with the Stickney mansion if you have ever heard of the ghost cop. I have heard from a few of the locals that are in their late 20's that a few times driving through that area they have been pulled over and started to get out their papers and look back up and nothing is there anymore. I was wondering if this was something to look into. I'm starting a paranormal group Chicago Western Suburbs Paranormal Group I have been doing research for years now and I'm going to start investigating here in a couple weeks. Cuba Road is first on my list. Here is the MySpace Group if you would like to check it out. Just let me know if you have heard of it. My husband is from that area and has heard of it also. He is from Hebron. It is the town next to Woodstock. I will also be trying to get into the Opera house out there to investigate. Thanks, Danielle Garrett

Response from Slim Pictures: Danielle, other than from time to time, wishing that the cop behind me would disappear, this is all new to me. I've heard similar stories linked to Cuba Road - being chased away by a guy on foot to vanishing sedans, but never a phantom police car. Let me know what you find out. I'm hoping to write a new edition of my book and that area deserves more attention. I'm sure there are great stories other than the Stickney House and Cuba Road in the western burbs.

Question: Aloha - I used to work on Ft Sheridan, and I am wondering if you know about this one. On the north end of base is the old officer housing areas (known as “the loops” to us). Anyway, I once saw a book on the history of the fort, and a section had a picture of a winter night scene on the loops, and one of the shots had a very clear (yet transparent) picture of a figure in a white coat standing in the lower right quarter of the picture. I have searched for this picture since then, and not come up with anything…yet. Also, I never heard anything about the cemetery “woman in white” ‘til I saw your site…
-- jl

Response from Slim Pictures: First off, I'm curious about the 'Aloha' you started your eMail off with. I'm guessing you're stationed at one of Hawaii's many bases right now. I do know of the picture you speak of. A military photographer was commissioned to take Chiristmasttime pictures of the fort for a calendar (or post card series, I'm not sure off the top of my head). The strange photograph was snapped at this time. There was actually two unexplainable pictures taken. The other, when developed, showed a light being on inside of an abandoned building. Other pictures taken before and after it did not show the light. I did a quick search and also did not find the picture. It's kind of odd that a ghost picture hasn't shown up on the 'net somewhere yet. A good person to search for is Patricia DiPrima. She works at the College of Lake County last I heard, but she used to be the historian for Fort Sheridan, and she was the one who showed me the picture you speak of. Though this doesn't shed any light on the picture, here's a video of your former place of employment:

Questions: Hi Scott, I live 15 minutes away from the Stickney Mansion which is located in Bull Valley. Besides the stickney mansion do you know of any other haunted locations in Bull Valley? I heard of an old school burning down with people inside that is believed to be haunted, hear anything about this? Thanks, -- Greg M.

Response from Slim Pictures: Anyone out there have any info on this one?

Questions: I emailed you several times last year about your book and you were very kind to send it quickly to me. I now use that as my bible of haunted locations.
All summer long I have been doing extensive archaeological work up and down the Des Plaines area and have found many sites at Robinson. I have the precise location of the Boettcher house (with many artifacts) and two locations for both of Robinson's daughter's houses. I have even met people who knew the Boettcher's personally. This not only helps with the archaeology of the area but helps with the ghost hunting as well. I am hoping that next week brings promising pictures.

I have several questions this year regarding several of the locations. How far along are they with the development of the Rainbow Road house site? I saw the pictures on your site and I am guessing that people should be living in their new houses by now. What a shame! It was a favorite hunting ground for me.
Has anyone ever caught any apparitions at the White's Cemetery location?
Will you be updating your site with updated stories?
Does anyone live in the Stickney mansion? Who could we contact to do an investigation? Have you or anyone that you know ever been inside and recorded or photographed anything? I have looked on the internet and can find nothing but the same story over and over.
My last question is about The Unknown World website and their cable show. Is it still being aired? I live in Chicago and cannot find it anywhere on my Comcast.
Thank you for your time and help and keep up the good work on your end! Thanks --Dan Melone

Response from Slim Pictures: Dan, long time no talk. Sorry about being as ghostly as the stories I write about. I travel quite a bit. I will, however, be in Illinois until the end of January. I found your eMail in which you talk about finding several interesting foundations. I finally photographed some old, somewhat hard to find foundations of a haunted site known as "the Gate," in Libertyville, IL. I would love to see the foundations you've found at Robinson Woods. I've visited the location a lot over the past few months. While I can't say that I've specifically made it a mission to seek out the foundations, I didn think that I'd stumble across it eventually, but haven't yet. If you want to meet up and explore the area soon, let me know.
To answer your other long overdue questions:
* Check out a pretty up-to-date video about the House on Rainbow Road here: slimpictures.com/3ghoststories.htm Though the house is gone and new houses are currently going up in the area, I still think it's a fairly interesting site for ghost research - the actual location where the house was, isn't being built upon (at least not yet).
* As for apparitions at White Cemetery - there are many orbs and mists on film, but I've never heard of any full figure apparitions on film (some pictures have been submitted to me claiming to be of figures, but nothing really solid. I also haven't heard of any interesting video being shot there.
* After a long time away, I've finally been updating my site with stories submitted from readers. I've also made a few small videos with fellow author Mary Czerwinski. I plan to use the web site to further update the book. (it'll all be under slimpictures.com/ghoststories.htm
* Bull Valley uses the Stickney House. No one lives in it. You won't get a chance to officially do an investigation. The best chance you'll have to do anything with permission is by posing as a regular passer-by who has heard the story and would like to look around (very casual). If there happens to be an officer there alone, they may open up a bit, however, they're not actually allowed to. I've been in the front reception room/office. I don't know anyone who's made it further than that. Let me know if you make any progress.
* To the best of my knowledge, "The Unknown World" is still on the air, though I cannot get it either. I've even been a guest on the show once, but never got a copy of the show. Fortunately, they have posted a few videos on YouTube (www.youtube.com/profile?user=MagickTv). Unfortunately, many of the videos aren't about haunted locations and are more about religious rituals - also, the quality is pretty poor.

Please feel free to send any pictures you'd like to share with the wolrd and I'll post them on the site with credit going to you.

I hope to hear back from you soon, but good luck with everything. Also, the compliment that you use my book as your "bible of haunted locations" means the world to me. Thanks a ton!

This one started with Tom telling me in person about grave dowsing at the site of the Sunnybrook Asylum, which was actually the site of the utopian society call the Spirit Fruit Society

Letter from Slim Pictures: Tom, I'm really interested in dowsing ever since you told me about it. I've honestly never heard of it prior to that day. Out of curosity, how do you know that you actually did find those lost graves? After you located them via the rods, do you contact town or state authorities to verify it and have a headstone placed? --Scott

Reply from Tom: Scott, First you practice with the rods in a cemetery with markers to learn how they work and build confidence. This is the technique usually employed in finding lost graves. First it is used as a genealogical tool. You locate the dimensions of the family plot you're investigating. Douse the marked graves and then cover the rest of the plot using the rods. You may find (usually east west orientation) areas where the rods cross for about six feet (less for a child) then uncross. They fit in neatly in the plot. Some times there will be a broken headstone that has become over grown with turf grass. You probe the area at the end of the grave, this will most likely be the west end, to find a buried stone. You then carefully unearth the stone, take notes or do a rubbing from the stone. You should then replace the stone to where you found it. In some cases there never were stones or they have been vandalized and removed. Double checking the sites with no stones is a good idea to insure you have a hit. It's also good to check the unmarked graves for sex using a single rod over the grave. It will spin clockwise for a female and counter clock wise for a male. This is another good way double check that you have a good hit.

I've found that most old cemetery records have been lost. the most important thing in having success in locating unmarked graves is to start with a good target. The Discovery Rod web site has a good explanation on dowsing technique. They also sell a good booklet on the subject.

I visited the Zion Healing Rooms last week where they claim to have preformed miracles. They have many testimonials posted there. It is very interesting. When I was there I picked up a book about the life of a faith healer named Smith Wigglesworth for England. Again pretty interesting. I'm tring to get my wife to visit the Healing Room to see if they can help with her terrible headaches. The secret here is faith in God and Jesus Christ. They also have a web site. --Tom Smith

Reply from Slim Pictures: When you were searching for the grave of Jacob Bielhart, other than what the rods dictated, how did you verify that you found the grave. Was there a marker buried that you found his resting place, or that it matched up with the historical research you've done, etc.

Reply: I located the Bielhart's grave before I began dowsing. There was a description in one of the books as to where it was located in relation to the mansion. Although the mansion was gone I knew where it was located from a previous visit years before. The Lake County Museum had a photograph from 1948 when the people who owned the property dug up what they thought was the grave. This photo also appears in one of the books. They did verify that it was Bielhart's grave. They didn't exhume him, just dug down to locate the casket. There was a window in the casket and they reported that Jacob looked rather well for being dead for forty years. It has become very over grown but I used the description and photo to locate the depression that marks Bielhart's grave. I got a G.P.S. reading on the spot and had the County superimpose it on an aerial map. I was concerned because of earth moving and construction work within yards of the grave. I also flagged the corners of the grave. Construction workers respect flagging. It turned out that the grave is on the very edge of the Ross's property. On a plat map they saved a very thin pie shaped piece of property to include the grave. I talked to the Ross's long before this and they claimed they knew about the grave but didn't know the exact location. I had other sources that knew them and said they knew perfectly well where the grave was located.

Weeks after the flagging I found a very nasty note near the grave from the Ross's. The note was full of false information. They went so far as to say I'd burn in hell for flagging the grave. Historically the grave was marked with hand made Spirit Fruit Bricks. I have dowsed the grave since then. I got a very strong reading. Even when I was yards away from the grave, the rods kept pointing back to the grave site, some thing that I had never experienced before. The weakest reading I ever got was from the grave of a still born baby that is buried in our family plot in 1964 at Grant Cemetery. We found Bielhart's closest living relative in Libertyville, Il of all places. She could have Jacob moved. I have a spot for him at Grant Cemetery in our family plot. I checked with a funeral home about this and they gave me an estimated cost of $5000.

That put an end to that.

Some time I plan to dowse some of Lake County's lost cemeteries that have descriptions like "most of the bodies were removed." I've located most of them, others were left with out a trace. Indian burial mounds are another place I'd like to dowse to see if dowsing works on a six thousand year old burial. I've also located both burial and effigy mounds(which don't contain burials) in Lake County. Again you need a good target to get good results with dowsing. You might want to try pendulum dowsing and map dowsing to help find targets. I have not try this so I'm skeptical about it. I will share something I found strange at one of my first visits to Bielhart's grave. I was standing at the foot of his grave thinking about his extraordinary life. One thought I had was, you had two children, and a very strong voice came to me saying I have no children. Shortly after that I discovered that both of "his" children were fathered by Kellogg (the cereal and health resort person) back in Battle Creek Mi.