Recent Investigations by Long Island Paranormal Investigators:

New York City EMS Academy in Fort Totten
Bayside, Queens, NY

Prolog: On December 9, 2007 Long Island Paranormal Investigators was invited to investigate the New York City EMS (Emergency Medical Service) academy building located inside Fort Totten, Bayside Queens.

LIPI is the first paranormal group to be granted access
to the EMS academy and the grounds of Fort Totten!

Please note that due to heightened security we were not permitted to photograph the outside of the building nor the surrounding grounds.

Historical Background:

Brigadier General Joseph Gilbert Totten (1788-1864).

The original use of Fort Totten was to protect the East River approach to New York City. Much of the property is now a park and still houses facilities of the U.S. Coast Guard, National Guard, U.S. Army and the NYC Fire Department Training Academy.

EMS Academy building welcome banner.

Long Island Paranormal Investigators was honored with this full page recognition of our investigation
in the December 2007 edition of the FDNY Uniformed EMT's, Paramedics & Fire Inspector bulletin.
Thank you!

Reported Paranormal Claims: There were many reports of this location being haunted, particular building 325:

• Apparitions have been seen in the hallways.

• The voice of a non-English speaking person has been heard around the museum area.

• A woman's voice in the Womens' bathroom when no one else is around.

• Multiple experiences of hearing people talking in classrooms, when the classrooms are checked no one is there.

• An apparition as been reported seen in the basement walking along the hallway.

• Footsteps heard all throughout the location, especially on the 3rd floor stairwell.

• Voices are heard in the third floor when classes are being held.

• The second floor auditorium doors are said to swing open on their own.

The Investigation Team: Six members of Long Island Paranormal Investigators took part in this investigation. This investigation was lead by LIPI lead investigators Michael Cardinuto and Rob Levine Additional team members were investigators Peter Ferraro, Craig Sordyl, Michael Bainbridge, and Paul Guarino.
 

The Equipment Setup: Long Island Paranormal Investigators performed for a lights out investigation at the academy. DVR cameras where setup in the basement hallway, 3rd floor stairwell looking down to the second floor, 2nd floor auditorium, and the 3rd floor classroom.. Our Hi8 video cameras were setup in the basement cafeteria. During the investigation we also used our cassette recorders, digital audio records, digital cameras, 35mm cameras, as well as our thermometers and EMF meters.

Our DVR cameras setup for this investigation.

The Investigation:

LIPI began the investigation around 11:15pm. It started out as a quiet night. But things changed soon.

Investigator Paul Guarino in the 1st floor woman's bathroom (no women present of course).

Woman's locker room on the 1st floor.

Another shot of the woman's bathroom.

Lead investigator Mike Cardinuto takes photos and performs EVP sessions in the class room.

When we were there doing our investigation while we were on the tour on the 2^nd floor we were walking through the hallway and on the way back one of our investigators Michael Bainbridge heard the auditorium doors open. When he turned around he saw one of the doors swinging, as though someone (or something) just opened it.

Auditorium doors on the second floor. These are said to swing open on their own!

Hallway outside the second floor auditorium.

Investigator Paul Guarino puts out his arm and asks for someone/something to touch him.
 

At approximately 1:30am the group decided to take a coffee break. Long Island Paranormal Investigators were all relaxing in HQ, when Mike Cardinuto heard a tapping sound from the 2^nd floor. He asked Rob Levine and asked if he had heard it too and did. So the team sat there quietly waiting to see if they could here it again. About 30 seconds later Mike and Rob heard what sounded like a conversation going on between two woman. They grabbed an audio recorder and some other equipment and went up to the 2^nd floor. When they got there they started an EVP session. (When analyzing the evidence we found no EVPs) While doing the EVP session they heard what sounded like a conversation down the hallway in the end room. The group started to slowly go towards the room the try and trap what ever was speaking so we could get it on camera. Unfortunately when the investigators got to the room the conversation stopped and there was nothing there. They also did another EVP session in that room to see if we could pick up anything. (When analyzing the evidence we found no EVPs)

Investigator Mike Bainbridge checking for EMF with the K2 meter and Zap Checker.

After that incident Long Island Paranormal Investigators decided to investigate a little more on the 2^nd floor to see if we could find anything else but nothing turned up. So we went back to HQ

Later during the investigation Mike Cardinuto and Craig Sordyl went down to the basement to change the Hi-8 tape in the camcorder. After changing the tape, as Mike started to walk back to the doorway and he felt a little disoriented and almost lost his balance. It felt like an equilibrium shift. While standing at the doorway Craig started to feel nauseous too. They decided to do a quick EVP session.

Craig Sordyl performs an EVP session in the basement hallway.

Basement cafeteria room.
Note the digital thermometer mounted on the column to the right.

Craig takes video in the basement cafeteria room.

Later on during the night investigator Paul Guarino decided to take a walkie talkie and an audio recorder down to the basement by himself, where a supposed apparition was spotted. He sat there quietly by himself. His audio recorder was on the entire time. As he sat there he started to he male voices, so he began to do an EVP session. He sat by himself for about 15-20 minutes.

Basement hallway.

Craig (left) and Paul perform more EVP session in the basement hallway.

Later on during the night a second group of investigators was sent down to the basement. Peter Ferraro had claimed that he had felt a presence there. So the team members started to check there equipment to see if there was any unusual readings, and they also did an EVP session.
 

The Findings:

After the team got back to the office we started to analyze all of the evidence that we had gathered that night through 35mm cameras, digital cameras, Hi-8 video camera, DVR system, Audio cassette recorder, digital audio recorder, and all of the other equipment used during the investigation.

• In spite of all the sounds and voices we heard on the investigation we only recorded a few Class C EVPs.
• Nothing appeared on any of the video camera and photographs.
• A few LIPI team members had some personal experiences as noted above.
   

Conclusion: Overall Long Island Paranormal Investigators believes there may be some activity here. The nature of the activity can not be determined however at this time. Follow up investigations are being planned to determine the extent of the activity and if the location can be declared haunted. The findings will be posted here.

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