A fellow investigator from Jacksonville shared an incident with us, he has graciously agreed to let us share a situation that suggested paranormal overtones, but in the end one part had a logical explanation.

Glenn responded to our request to share this account  by saying, “Yes go ahead, it does prove a valid point. Some other examples are listed in Troy Taylor’s "confessions of a ghost hunter" also. It is entertaining reading. You always want to keep searching for logical explanations even though a supernatural reason is suspect. When no logical reason is found, then you can get anxious.”

I visited my barber today and as always we discuss paranormal circumstances, the barbers (who are sisters) grew up in a haunted house up in Ohio and implemented use of a Ouija board when they were younger. They have some stories that will give you pause if considering dabbling with the occult.

The barbershop has a foul odor that comes and goes at random and the building owner has yet to locate the cause despite having the building inspected thoroughly.

 Two previous shop owners in this location have also experienced this odor.  Some unexplained occurrences, led the owners to believe it might be spirit related. The previous owner, according to rumor and innuendo is believed to have participated in occult related practices before her death.

One of the current shop owners purchased a decorative wooden box last year from a local department store. The box was placed on a shelf, not long after scratching sounds were heard coming from the box, but on close inspection nothing could be found inside the box.  Placed on a shelf for display, the empty box continued to at random draw attention to itself.   The sound of scratching or clawing could be heard coming from the box, yet no marks were found on the interior or exterior of the decorative wooden container imported from India.

With these unusual occurrences, I recommended they begin to log the time and date of any unusual occurrences and we could try to determine if there was a pattern of any sort.  Their documentation was compared to my tracking log of solar data to determine if an investigation should be considered and to try to determine what might be involved.

At face value, the odor and scratching sounds could have been generalized symptoms of malevolent spirits (and/or demonic infestation which could not be ruled out if what I am told is true with the occult practices by the previous owner and the barber shop sisters past experience).

A formal investigation had not been organized and no equipment used, we discussed this since last September  and I just listened to the stories and inspected the box visually.

Most of my suspicions of what might be going were based on research materials and discussions with other investigators.  The symptoms could have been considered symbolic to these types of hauntings but nothing beyond that scratching and the foul smell so I was pretty much in the pre investigation stages.

Thus far, not much was happening and out of the two things that were happening only one had a logical explanation that on the surface mirrored a common supernatural event. I guess if you want to add anything, it is to not jump to conclusions and do not rule things out

The activities and stories were suspicious but over several months a logical explanation emerged that we didn't expect to find. I remember when they almost took it outside to burn it, and how many people might have blessed it thinking it was haunted when it was only infested not by spirit but a bug living inside the wood. I knew it was odd, but I was thinking if it is a spirit then maybe it will eventually start scratching else where so I advised the barbers to record  any activity and/or sounds they found odd.

While no explanation has come forward on the cause of the random foul odor, the scratching sounds were the result of an Asian long horn beetle that had made it’s home in the decorative box most likely when it was constructed using "infested wood".

Over time the beetle eating from the inside out of the box, created a tiny pile of saw dust that appeared and a small, but visible hole appeared. One of the barbers broke out a pair of needle nose pliers and searched around in the newfound hole and yanked out this beetle.

 The State of Florida is now in possession of the box and beetle now for study, the beetle  has been found in New York and Chicago and there eggs can lay dormant in wood for years before they hatch according to government officials. They are so small, and they bore holes and tunnels inside the wood.   If and how much of a threat the beetle is to Florida is still undetermined at this point.

The scratching had a natural logical cause, even though the foul odor is still undetermined and unexplained which might have a logical explanation.  We must always keep in mind that not all ghost are ghosts and not all ghost are demons and demons can act as ghost if they wish too. You never know what kind of spirit your dealing with, you just have suspicions of what kind you might be dealing with and the only way to tell per those that deal with the demonic is to look at the reasoning and patterns that lie behind the events taking place.

So keep in mind it is wise to not rule out insects as a cause for some haunting symptoms. Just like Troy Taylor made a point with his story of raccoons in his book "confessions of a ghost hunter. The smell continues
but that is it, so there might be spirit since the building inspections come up negative but that type of smell is not common with typical ghost. It does in the cases of possession and in places where the negative spirits are
found manifesting. Old Jail is an example where it is reported often. Other phenomena common with diabolical spirits happen there in the same locations.  Thus far, none of that other related phenomena has come up at the barbershop.