Is It Haunted.

      Ok, so I didn't write last week, and for a very simple reason. I didn't have anything at all to write about. This week however, I got stuff. 

     First a little update. I'm heading for that "Stop the Bleed" course on Thursday, and I'm pretty excited about it. I still don't really fully know what to expect, but I'm hoping for practical application of wound packing and applying tourniquets. You can watch videos that tell you how to do it, but without real life application it's really hard to know exactly if what you know to do is really what you are to do. I really hope that makes sense. I have purchase a couple of CAT tourniquets, which are the mostly highly approved tourniquet to use, and some packing gauze which is the second highest approved type of gauze. Hemostatic gauze is the highest, but it is super expensive, and studies have shown that regular packing gauze can be just as affective, but may take a little longer to actually stop the bleeding. The hemostatic gauze is quicker because it has a clotting agent embedded in the gauze itself which will speed up the process of stopping the bleeding. I would still like to get a couple of SOFTT Wide tourniquets which are highly approved as well, but they can fold down to be a little easier to conceal on your person. I would use those as my daily carry tourniquet. Right now I haven't fully figured out how to carry the CAT 7 on my person without a very large holster that is very obvious. For my range bag, I just got a simple Molle style loop system that slides onto my bag and I just slide the CAT 7 through the elastic bands. I really don't care if someone at the range sees it, but when you are in public you might create a bit of a stir if someone notices that you are walking around with a bright orange tourniquet. The packing gauze is simple, it is vacuum packed in a plastic bag that is the size of a standard wallet. I can slip it in my back pocket without anyone even knowing. Now, when I'm on duty, I just slide my belt through the TQ holster and not really care if anyone sees it. People seems to not know that security officers are more than likely the first person that is going to be on any type of scene, and we are trained in life saving procedures. I'm just trying to take it a bit further. I did get a very minimal training on wound care and tourniquet use, but no to the extent I'm willing to an wanting to learn. My goal is to basically become a field medic, but trying to find classes that are with in my time and price constraints is incredibly difficult right now. The course I'm going to on Thursday happens to be free which is incredible, but I do have to take the night off of work, and then drive to Orlando, so it's still costing me, but I'm placing a much higher value on it than what I'm losing in gas and time off of work. I will of course figure all of this out and find a way to learn what I'm wanting to. It will just take some time.

     I'm going to share this picture of the VAB last week which will be the segue way into the rest of this post. 

     I posted some day time photos on Instagram that duel posted on Facebook as well, but those weren't as creepy as this one. This was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and there were still several people in the area, finishing up their days before the holiday break. This shot is approximately 200 yards away from the VAB, and as you can see, you can only see about a third of the building. I can remember telling people that it looked like a horror film outside and I believe the word creeptacular came up as well. It was spooky to say the least. Little did I know that was a precursor for Thanksgiving night. Now as a security officer I have to work on holidays, which is fine by me, but it means that I'm in completely empty buildings, and buildings that were built in some cases in the early 60's. I know that doesn't seem like a long time for a building, but you have to remember, theses buildings are all attached to the space program from its inception, so they have seen a lot. 

     I went in for my usual shift on Thanksgiving which was a bit weird in itself because there was almost no one in the entire area. I'm talking maybe a grand total of 10 people in a mile radius from where I was. The shift went rather nominal until the sun went down, then stuff started getting wild. As I would walk around the building, I could here voices and conversations every where. Almost every portion of the building had some sort of voices or conversations going on and they would always make me stop in my tracks to turn around. I'm sure if anyone was watching the cameras, they would think I was insane constantly turning around and walking back to an empty area. I can't really tell you much about what all went on, but I will tell you about the most intense moment. I was walking out of an area that has double doors, and then right outside of those double doors is another door that leads to some bathrooms and a training area. I walked through the double doors and heard them close behind me, as I continued down the hallway, I heard a voice call out to me. Now when I say call out to me, that is a pure assumption since I can never understand anything that is actually said, but it was loud and seemed directed to me. I turned around and looked at the double doors and of course, nothing was there, so I turned and continued down the hallway. When I did I suddenly heard the door that leads to the bathrooms close. I turned again and walked back, opened that door and searched around. There was nothing there which I knew, but I had to look.

      When my relief for the night came, I mentioned everything that was going on to him, and he concurred that he has heard things as well. He had even had some more intense experiences than what I had. He also o told me that the ongoing belief is that the spirits in the building belongs to the unfortunate souls of the Challenger and Columbia accidents. The building I am in is one of two buildings that were Shuttle processing facilities when they were active, so it is very likely that both Challenger and Columbia were last in that building before heading off to pair with the boosters in the VAB.

      This all leads to the other building I work in. Now that building I've had experiences in for some time now. I've heard conversations that I couldn't really pinpoint their location. I've walked into rooms and instantly smelled perfume. Mind you, I've looked around those rooms for wall mounted scent emitters and things like that, and found nothing. There was nowhere or anything for the smell to be coming from. A couple of the other officers have told me about experiences that they have had as well, which back up a lot of what I've experienced. In that building the bulk of the activity is on just one floor, even though I've had one experience on one other floor and the others officers have mentioned some things happening on other floors, but for the most part it is the 3rd floor where everything happens. Now, on Saturday when I was there, there was a special project going on and the building had the power cut off to have the work done. That took half of my shift and then everyone was out of the building for the rest of the weekend. Saturday went by without even a strange feeling, and I should mention that form time to time, even without activity, you will still have a vibe when you are on the 3rd floor. It's still quiet but the vibe is kind of like someone is watching you but from right over your shoulder. Sunday came around and I was a little disappointed that the building was so quiet, so when I was walking on the 3rd floor in the middle of my shift, I spoke out loud about. I mentioned that they were dropping the ball and that they didn't have anything on the other building, because much more happened to me there than at the current building. Hindsight, that may have been a mistake or maybe a little of, be careful what you wish for. I went on patrol near the end of my shift and purposefully skipped the 3rd floor just to mix things up a bit. On my way back down I reminded myself that I had to hit floor 3 but somehow simply forgot as I walked passed it in the stairwell. When I hit 2 it hit me that I had to cover the 3rd floor and quickly turned around and went back up. As I exited the stairwell, I heard a noise like a machine powering up. Let me tell you, that stopped me dead in my tracks and shivers shot from my toes all the way to the top of my head. Once my wits were about me, I heard it power up again and realized it was the sound of a printer. so I walked to where it was and sure enough the printer had powered up as if it was ready to accept a project to print. No remember, the day before the power to the building was complete shut off. The printer I use for my reports, I had to physically turn on since it was off and not in sleep mode. This printer should have been exactly the same, but it was now online. At the other end of the floor is another printer, so I quickly headed that way to check and sure enough, that one was on too. I called out, "Oh, that is good, you are definitely upping your game now.", but even with that, I still wasn't sure it wasn't just one sort of automated reaction, even though I knew you had to physically turn them on, so once I finished checking that entire floor, I quickly went back down tot he second floor to check the printers there, and they were all completely offline. I can tell you that while I was on the 4th floor I made a mental note about the printers being off up there as well. It's just something i alway notice when I'm in the building. When I'm there on the weekend I"m generally the only person that is ever there, so it is an oddity if there is anything on, like for example, a printer. 

      I have to say, I was a little proud of the building after that, and appreciated the display of weird power. When my relief came I had to fill him in on what had happened. I even took him up to show him. We hit the 2nd floor first and showed him that I had to turn the printer on, which I did. It powered up and then went to a standby screen, which is the normal thing for it to do. Then we went up on the 3rd floor and showed him that even though the screen was no longer on, the standby light was on, showing that it was powered up and ready. I mentioned that I had not touched them at all. Then we went to see the printer at the other end and as we walked, we went through a cloud of perfume, which as I mentioned I smell from time to time, so I don't think much of it anymore, but it hit him as well, and it freaked him out. We made it to the printer and the same standby light was on and all the time he was talking about how he smelled something. I asked him, was it a floral perfume, and he agreed and then he had to walk back where we had come form to find it. It of course was no longer there, but without asking him where he smelled it, I backed up to where it hit me and asked him if this was the spot, and it looked like his head exploded. It blew his mind that I knew where he had smelled it, because I had smelled it as well. I asked him if he remembered the printer screen on the second floor, which he did, and then I told him what the screens on the 3rd floor looked like. They weren't the start up screen, they were the ready to receive screen, and that once again blew his mind. We went back down to the lobby where our desk is and talked it over a bit before I left. I then asked the spirits to not bother him, since I was the one that stirred them up, and that they could have it out with me next week when I showed up. When I said that, something very strange happened. Before I tell you what it was, I have to tell you about a normal occurrence in the building. We have those automated toilets in the bathrooms, and from time to time, they will flush for now reason. The first floor has it happen all the time, and every now and then, you can hear the second floor do it. Now, when I said what I said, we heard a flush come from the women's room on the 3rd floor. The important thing about that, is that even though I can't pinpoint where the conversations are coming from, I can get it down to 2 general areas, one of which is near the women's room. Either in there or in the office space to the side or the lobby area in front of it. 

     I have a passion for the paranormal and always have. I've had some strange experiences in the past, but nothing compares to this last week in those two buildings. You can believe if you like it doesn't matter to me. I will always try to find an explanation for what happens, but sometimes you just have to accept things for what they are, and for right now, all those occurrences, I can't explain at all. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy this weird ride I'm now finding myself on. I'd like to get a digital recorder to just leave on that floor for about a half hour and see if it gets anything, but that costs money, which I currently don't have. I could leave my phone up there, but I just feel like that would be a horrible idea. I'll just have to bide my time and wait until I have the money to get a recorder to do it. In the meantime I'll just try and document any really extreme things here when they happen.

     I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and the holidays that are descending upon us. Peace in and goodnight.