(Altoona, Blair County)

     For those of you who have just joined us, the Ghost Research Foundation has been conducting an ongoing investigation into a bowling alley and bar called the 4-D’s.  This is an unlikely sounding site, but it has turned out to be a very active place.  We have captured supercharged energy inside this building and picked up strange readings--or rather lack of them.  By that I mean that in the oldest part of the building the readings were very low despite a large amount of electrical equipment.  At the same time that we noticed this, the temperature began dropping in that area and dropped a total of 7 degrees. 

    During our most recent visit, I had a most interesting experience.  My son Daniel, Scott, and the owners adult son Robbie were in the building from about 3 a.m. until nearly 7 a.m. 

    About 5 a.m. I was sitting in a booth talking to Robbie when he decided to take another turn around the building with Daniel.  Since Daniel was using my equipment there was nothing much for me to do, so I just decided to relax and rest my eyes for a few moments. 

    I closed my eyes and leaned back in the booth.  I could not have had my eyes closed for more than five minutes--I know because I looked at the clock and I also was listening for Daniel to return.  

     Suddenly a male voice that I did not recognize said, “Get up!  Get up!  Get up!”  It was almost a singsong sound and I wondered how someone could have gotten into the room without my hearing them.  At the same instant I felt a shift of air and felt as if someone was in my body space.  I opened my eyes to see a rotund older man with a balding gray pate and black glasses standing over me.  He grinned a very ornery smile that let me know that this man was joking around, and then he was gone.

     I just sat there.  What was I to make of this now?  I knew the stories of the hauntings very well, and this old guy was not among them.  I am not usually a person who sees ghosts.  In fact, I’ve only ever seen one other full-bodied apparition in 20 yrs. of writing about ghosts and visiting haunted sites.

    When Robbie and Daniel returned, I did not mention anything.  I had radioed for Scott to come back and he was on his way.  When he got there, I began to carefully question Robbie about the many ghost stories of the building.

     Robbie was trying to be polite, but you could tell that he was uncomfortable because there were no stories of an older man haunting this building.  He was being diplomatic, but he would not agree to a lie. 

    I carefully began to describe the man.  I was beginning to think that I had imagined him.

   Suddenly Robbie’s expression turned to surprise.  “Just a minute,” he said and ran out of the room. He returned with a photograph of several people.  “The man you saw, is he in this picture?” 

    I barely had to look at the photo before I saw the man.  Yet he looked different than when I had just seen him.  He was bigger, more healthy looking.  I told Robbie that. 

     He handed me another smaller photo and I nodded.  Yes, the man looked more like the man did in this photo. 

     Robbie was excited, but I still didn’t understand why.  “This is my Grandfather, “ he said.  “He’s the one who built this place.  I knew it was him when you described his grin.  He was a big prankster.  He loved a good joke.  I knew it had to be him.  This place was his life.”

     Well, I can only tell you that I saw this man who was in the photograph.  He didn’t frighten me in any way.  Now they no longer doubt that Grandpa is still there.