Peace River Ghost Tracker Arcadia Opera House ghost investigation

History:

Arcadia historic DeSoto Opera House was one of the first buildings to be built in 1906 after the Thanksgiving day fire in 1905. It was built by John J. Heard in which it housed his bank downstairs, the Florida Loan and Trust Company. The rooms upstairs surrounding the theater were rented out to help business owners get back on their feet after the fire and to continue to supply services to the residents of the county.
Current owner Dick Cernoch says that it was also used for dances, political meetings, movie theater and the local USO. Local historian Howard Melton said that while the adults viewed the show the children would be sent outside or they would play tag in the hallways. They then would be invited back in to sit in front of the stage for a show of their own. He also remembers the theater from when he was a child. He said that it was used for graduation ceremonies, black face comedians, vaudeville, silent movies and talkies. He also said that since the churches and schools didn’t have auditoriums the used the Opera house for all their large functions. At the present time it is being used as a museum and antique mall.

Personal Experiences:
* When Tom was on stage with Scott, Jessie and Craig doing EVP work. Scott began knocking on the floor and asking for knocks back in answer. On two separate occasions Tom thought he heard tapping in response to Scott's knocks. No one else claimed to have heard the reply and Tom was not able to capture what he heard on the voice recorder.
* Tom heard movement at the command center and found large roaches and rotting food in a box. He believes this is the cause of the sounds he was hearing and the sweet smell he and others smelled.
* While Toni was sitting on the stage steps she began to hear the sound of possible feet shuffling and foot steps heading towards the steps to the "changing rooms". Later, Scott found roaches in some boxes of records on the stage. Toni now believes it was the sound of the roaches in the box that mimicked this sound of shuffling and steps.
* Toni was on the stage walking around the old car and instantly smelled the bubble gum smell that was encountered at the last investigation. Scott also commented on the smell. As Toni and Scott tried to track the smell, Jessie went to the hallway by the changing rooms and smelled the bubble gum smell right away, he then tried to find the source, however it vanished pretty fast and he was not able to determine the cause. This was interesting because the smell was moving around as though it was trying to avoid us.

* We had an experience with a chair on our last investigation at the Opera House, the following is what happened this time: Toni sat in the "chair" and began asking questions about the chair. Scott felt the energy of a German Woman who was attached to the chair and she was not happy about Toni's comments re: the chair. At one point Scott asked if Toni recognized "Vas ist Sclossen" (spelling is in no way correct). Toni knew the words to mean "what is wrong with you or what is your problem". Once Toni said the words out loud, Toni felt as though she was hit by a very cold blast of air from the right side of her body. The cold blast was accompanied by the pin prickling sensation of all of her hair standing on end. The sensation lasted for almost 45 seconds before the feeling started to subside. At the time Toni and maybe Scott felt it was the "woman" showing her distaste for Toni and her comments to the woman. In retrospect, Toni now wonders if the "feeling" was caused by the heat. Toni now thinks it may have been a sign of possible heat stroke.
* While doing an EVP session in the auditorium Jessie said he heard the sound of dishes or glasses rattling. He turned around and said the noise was coming from a small table about 15 feet behind him. He and Tom went to the table and Jessie said the sound had stopped. Jessie and Tom both moved around the table and jumped up and down and was not able to make the glasses move in the same way Jessie had heard them minutes before. Jessie was the only person who heard the glasses.
* Many team members had reported the feeling of your body leaning while standing still and straight in the doorway of one of the back rooms. It was described like leaning into a strong wind. Sprout put a marble on the floor to test if the floor was not level but the marble did not roll one way or the other, leaving Sprout to believe the floor was level.
* At one point towards the end of the night, Toni, Sprout, Mike and Sawyer were doing a walk through. Sawyer suddenly took off to the other side of the building with his ears perked up. He appeared to Toni that he was going to someone who called him. Upon looking around, Toni and Sprout found no one in the area. After that Sawyer was appeared to be excited and a little more playful than he had been through out the night.