I had a tip come through my inbox last week of a new group that is starting up in Evansville called The Mysterium. The group is being formed for the purpose of investigating paranormal activity all around the Evansville area and helping to educate those who feel that they are experiencing these phenomenon.

I decided to interview their leader, Johnny (aka Mr Prophet), about the origins and goals of The Mysterium.

What’s your name/alias and your background in paranormal?

My name is Johnny or “Mr. Prophet” when conducting business online. I’ve been interested in the paranormal since I was about 9 years old. I’m 23 and have studied almost every branch of what can be considered paranormal - the Spiritualist movement, alien abduction, haunting activity, vampirism, magical traditions and their practices, cryptozoology, religious practices, shamanism and right on into the REALLY weird stuff like Hollow Earth Theory, Atlantis, dowsing and so on.

I’ve tried to keep my knowledge of the paranormal fairly well rounded, as opposed to focusing solely on ghosts like a lot of groups do. Given, I didn’t go to school for this sort of thing (not many places where such an education is available.) Rather, I’ve been driven to continue researching and learning out of personal enthusiasm for the subject.

What inspired starting the The Mysterium?

The group started in a very early form at the beginning of this year. I was one of the founders of an online community of paranormal investigators which got started back in February. We mostly discussed phenomenon but several of us, including myself, have gone out and performed investigations to contribute to the forum.

Activity in the group had started to slow down, so I’ve been trying to encourage the other members to start local investigation groups to help keep interest up. As far as I know, I’m the first one to attempt it.

I’m sure there’s a lot of paranormal activity in the area to be sought out. While Willard Library is an important fixture in the local paranormal scene, I think it would be a good idea to help bring to light other stories that may not be getting any attention. Plus, there are certainly people living with unexplained phenomenon in their homes and may not know what to do about or even what is causing it. Being able to give people like this some peace of mind is most definitely a goal I would like to accomplish.

What type of phenomena outside of Willard have you heard about in the Evansville area?

One of the more major areas I hear about now and again is the Dogtown area. There’s an old school house in the area that is supposed to be haunted. After hearing several accounts regarding the school, I doubt the validity of the claims, but the Dogtown area itself is supposed to have quite a bit of activity. Supposedly it’s a good place for spectral photography.

A number of people have claimed to capture lots of orbs in the pictures they’ve taken (Orbs are little balls of light that appear frequently in photographs taken in haunted areas thought to be energy radiating from a spirit.) Formerly, there was the old tuberculosis hospital near USI, but that was torn down several years ago.

That’s probably the closest to “mainstream” that I have. Other’s are just personal accounts of residential hauntings in the area. I’ve looked into a couple of them so far, but nothing really substantial has come of those yet. I’m hoping that will change once I start getting more in contact with the general public. New places to check, more possibilities.

Walk me through a typical paranormal investigation. Let’s say I feel something is happening at my house and give you a call. What happens when you actually show up?

Every investigator has a slightly different method for investigation since there really is no formal training for such a thing. I prefer a more spiritual approach to the paranormal rather than a strictly scientific one. Scientific tools are good for detecting and documenting the “symptoms” of haunting activity (cold spots, disembodied voices, EMF fluctuations, etc). As far as communicating with and, if necessary, protecting yourself from the supernatural, there really is no scientific way to deal with these things.

An investigation, as I would perform it, would start with an interview. Getting information is a good start. I have a sort of survey that I would run through to learn as much about the activity as possible and to attempt to tack down a possible cause for it as well as the type of haunting it may be. Things like “How old is your home?” “Any deaths in the home that you are aware?” “How frequent are the occurrences?” and so on.

Once you have the information from an interview, what’s next?

Investigation. At this point I would check the home in an attempt to experience the activity for myself. The first run through would be at some random time in the day when no activity has been reported. This is to act as the control portion of the investigation. Another run through would be done during the times that activity has been reported.

Unfortunately, we don’t have as much money to work with as TAPS does (the people from Ghost Hunters, in case you’re not familiar) so we currently can’t afford the fancy equipment that they have, but we have some of our own creative methods for measuring and documenting activity.

What type of equipment is there for paranormal investigations? Proton packs and ghost traps?

There are lots of different tools for paranormal investigation. Some are hi-tech meters and gauges while others are religious or occult tools. We try to use something of a mixture of everything. The technology area can be rather pricey, so we’ve had to come up with some creative alternatives. Here’s a list of some of the stuff I keep for investigations:

• Camera: Just about any investigator will carry a camera of some sort, be it an expensive digital video camera to a five dollar disposable.
• Flashlight: Breaking a leg in a dark room just isn’t worth it.
• Compass: While an EMF (Electromagnetic Field) meter will give you a clean numerical readout for detecting spirit-related electrical disturbances, a standard compass can do the same job. EMF spikes can be read by watching the compass’s needle for changes in magnetic north.
• Candles: These serve a couple purposes. First, they can be used in finding the source of cold spots. Assuming that a spot isn’t caused by spirit activity, watching the flame flicker on a candle can help determine if there are drafts causing the unusual temperature. Also, if used properly, can help protect against upset spirits (though this is a rarity.)

That’s most of the detection stuff that I carry around. Other than that, I have a few spiritual tools for the sake of protection and clearings.

• Already mentioned candles
• Salt: Salt has been used for quite a long time in dealing with the supernatural. Traditionally, it’s said that evil spirits can’t cross a circle of salt.
• Article of Faith: Quite a few investigators have some sort of religious or spiritual item for protection, be it a rosary or pentacle or whatever.
• Herbs and Incense: Used strictly for space clearing, which I’ll get to momentarily.

Hopefully, we’ll be able to get some proton packs after the loan goes through.

Sorry for the sidetrack. Let’s get back to the investigation. Once you’ve finished your investigation, what’s the next step?

Based on the information gathered during the initial interview and the investigation, I would, to the best of my ability, determine if there is a haunting and, if so, what kind.

Solution: With the information in mind, coming up with a plan on how to deal with the activity is necessary. Someone might choose to live with it if they find the activity harmless. Some people might choose to move away if they are uncomfortable being in the home. Some people may simply want to be rid of it by way of a clearing. This is anything from a small prayer to a full blown ritual with the intent of coaxing the spirit out of the home. I can’t make any official claims regarding the efficacy of clearings, but if nothing else it can help to ease the worries of those living with the supernatural, help to put it out of their minds. That alone can help in causing the activity to disperse in some cases.

That’s an investigation in a pretty big nutshell.

You mention a ritual as a possible way of cleansing. Is this a religious ritual or some other type?

Clearing rituals can be either religious in nature of simply spiritual with no particular religious focus. It really depends on who’s performing the clearing. It can be a prayer asking God/Buddah/Shiva/Whoever to help the spirit move on, to directly petitioning the spirit to a full-blown exorcism (which is a pretty tall order.)

If someone wants to get involved in paranormal investigations, what’s the best route go to?

Getting into paranormal investigation isn’t too hard. All that you really need to get involved is personal interest and the right knowledge. While most people start out as independent investigators, the best idea is to get involved with a local group, like The Mysterium. We have a lot to offer to the budding investigator - Years of collected knowledge regarding the paranormal, proper investigation techniques and a group of like-minded individuals with which to share and discuss experiences. The only thing we require is genuine interest in paranormal study and investigation.

Whose your favorite Ghostbuster?

I was never able to pick a favorite Ghostbuster. Personally, I think they all brought something important to the team. Peter and Ray were unquestionably the heart and soul of the group. Egon was the man with the knowledge and technical know-how. Without him there would be no Ghostbusters. And Winston was the straight man, the level head of the group. I thought out this answer WAAAAY too much. I was totally obsessed with the Ghostbusters as a kid. They were more or less my first heroes.

You can learn more about The Mysterium on Facebook or MySpace.

It’s Evansville is starting a new recurring feature that will spotlight local and regional musicians that are playing shows around Evansville. If you are a local musician, contact It’s Evansville editor Justin Williams to schedule your profile.

What’s the name of your band and what’s the origin of it?

Keith: Metal Mascarade ball. The origin is that we all went into space and got blasted with cosmic radiation!!

Chuck: I came up with it. I thought a Rock Show should be like a Masquerade Ballroom Ball but in a freaking metal way. Hence, the Mascarade Ball. You get the music and the show. Everyone dresses up in their best metal clothes. I changed the spelling to fit with Mascara like in the make up we wear.

Continue reading Music Spotlight: The Metal Mascarade Ball…

It’s Evansville is starting a new recurring feature that will spotlight local and regional musicians that are playing shows around Evansville. If you are a local musician, contact It’s Evansville editor Justin Williams to schedule your profile.

What’s the name of your group and what’s the origin of it?

Cynthia McDonald & Bob Green! We’ve never really come up with a name - since it’s just the two of us. My CD is titled, “Jazzafloozie”, so sometimes that’s how people refer to us. I guess Bob could be Jazz…I’m definitely a floozie.

How long have you been together?

We started working together about 3 years ago.

Continue reading Music Spotlight: Cynthia McDonald & Bob Green…

We at It’s Evansville are fans of original music being performed around town. While it’s comfortable to hear a cover band playing the songs you’ve known for 10 years, it’s nothing that is going to be memorable or expand your musical boundaries. With that in mind, I was excited to hear that Nashville-based Old Union would be in town this weekend for a show. Old Union has an energetic southern rock sound that pays homage to bands like Cream and The Allman Brothers. Old Union releases their new album, Motels and Highways, in Nashville tonight, and we got a hold of guitarist (and Evansville native) Steve “Spotty Dog” Swertfeger to ask a few questions about the bands history, music and future.

How long has Old Union been together?

We got together in 2001. I met some of the guys at a bar in Nashville, and we decided to get together for fun and started playing. After a couple of different lineup changes, we found the right chemistry and have been going strong since.

What are the band’s musical influences?

We are all big southern rock fans. That’s the one thing we all have in common, but our influences range far and wide: funk, jazz, rock, old school country. We like anything with soul. The Allman Brothers is probably the common band between all of the Old Union members. We often get told that we sound like the Allmans. A lot of that is because there are a lot of guitar harmonies in our songs.

Where did you find inspiration for your new album?

From everywhere. Our last album was put out in 2003. We’ve been chomping at the bit for several years to put out something new. From our fans, each other, family and friends, the music we listen to, it really comes from everywhere.

What took so long to get the new album out?

I think the main reason is money. We tried to do the same thing last year with John Carter Cash (Johnny’s son) producing it. We did 3 songs hoping to catch the attention of some major record labels, but nothing panned out. Our budget for the album with John Carter was $25,000, which we didn’t have and nobody wanted to give us either. Music is a cut throat business. The album we have now is as good as anything we’ve ever done. I am really proud of this one!

What’s your favorite song off the new album and why?

I think my favorite song is “Ragged Blue”. It’s the only song on the album I play slide on, and the whole over all feel of the song is epic. But with that said, I’m really proud of everything on this album.

What’s the goals for the band heading into 2008?

Our first goal is to pay off the album, but the main thing we want to do as a band is get out on the road more this year. We also will hopefully get signed to a good record deal. I guess the main thing is getting as much exposure as we can get right now.

Old Union will be playing The Duck Inn Saturday night at 10PM. If you’d like to get a free copy of their new CD, Motels and Highways, go up to the band and tell them you saw the interview on It’s Evansville. They have a few copies reserved for our readers.

Did you know that Evansville is home to several published writers? I got in touch with the Evansville Writers Guild and asked them to recommend a few people to profile on this site. For our first local author profile, I selected Steven C. Scheer, author of Hollywood Values, a book that dissects and analyzes several movies of the past two decades. We sat down and discussed his life, movies and his thoughts on our fair city.

Where’d you grow up?

I was born in Hungary in 1941. It was in the middle of the war, so some of my first memories are of bombings of the city of Budapest, going into the cellar, the Russians coming and so on and so forth. I had a wonderful childhood though. When the revolution broke out in 1956, I had no idea that we were going to leave Hungary. It was my mother’s idea. My mother wanted to because she felt there was no future for me there. We eventually ended up in the United States. I went to work for a few years and became a college student in my early 20’s.

Where did you teach at?

I found a job at Saint Meinrad College. Having moved a lot and had a divorce before I came here, I decided to settle down and stay in Evansville. I had a great time teaching there. The students were great. The academic freedom was great. My speciality in teaching was in American literature. I didn’t get into composition until a couple of years after I started to teach. Once I started to teach composition, I taught it from the heart. USI hired me after I delivered a paper there about the teaching of composition. I taught there part-time for 19 years and also had a brief stint at UE in the mid-90’s.

What made you decide to stop teaching?

I didn’t really decide to. The school I taught at went out of business and at 60, I couldn’t think of starting over. I had some money saved for retirement and figured I would go into writing. Then came the illnesses.

You say you started writing professionally a bit late. What spurred you on to get into it?

It wasn’t really on purpose. After teaching, the cancer came. Then the diabetes came. Then the depression came. Now, though I am finally writing short stories.

Tell me about Hollywood Values

I got sick and tired of all the Hollywood bashing. The motto of the book is we watch the same movies, but we don’t see see the same movies. My goal was to show what the movies are really about if you pay attention to them. I just wanted to show that there are great movies coming out of Hollywood and I focused on movies that were produced in the last 20 or so years. I offer what I call accurate readings of movies coming out of Hollywood.

Is it a book you would read before or after you watched the movie?

Either way. A lot of people have e-mailed me about it. High school students seem to be reading my essays about Dead Poets Society and Patch Adams after seeing the movie. A lot of people who have gotten the book say that reading some of the essays have made them want to go back to the movies and watch them again.

Who is the book targeted towards?

Anyone that watches movies. I know that is kind of broad, but it’s really for everyone that loves movies.

How did you eventually get a publisher interested in it?

I didn’t even try to get it published by a regular publisher. It’s completely print-on-demand. A lot of self published books get a bad reputation that they are badly written, not peer reviewed and not grammatically correct, but that’s not necessarily true. I’m a perfectionist when it comes to grammar.

How’d you get the out about your book?

I use my Web site primarily. You can also order it from places like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

What’s the best movie you’ve seen recently?

I watch a lot of movies at home. Most recently, I loved Chocolat: better than the book. Bridget Jones’s Diary was a great movie that was also better than the book. Some of the most brilliant movies are foreign. For example a movie called Breaking The Waves was a great expose of how evil religion can be.

What do you think about blogging?

I’m actually thinking about starting a blog because I have a lot of things to say. I don’t quite know what niche I would fit into. Perhaps areas like the art of thinking, getting rid of prejudices or arguing against certain viewpoints. My big trouble with political correctness is that it equalizes. A lot of ideas are wrongheaded and should be gotten rid of. Sadly, people won’t. If I got into blogging, I would probably be controversial because of my opinions. My blog would be constantly attacking wrongheaded ideas and promoting the right-headed ideas.

The Basics

Name: Steven C. Scheer

Describe yourself in one sentence: I love life and I love the wonderful things that humanity is capable of.

Age and occupation: 66. Retired professor of English and writer.

Hometown: Budapest, Hungary.

Favorite place to spend time online: I mostly spend my time with e-mail.

Favorite local business: Bookstores like Barnes & Noble or Borders.

Favorite local hangout: I love sitting at coffee shops.

Best restaurant: I like Italian food, so I’d pick Biaggis.

Place you always tell visitors to check out: I like to take people to USI, UE or Angel Mounds.

Question you’d ask if you were doing this interview: What is your favorite book?

And what’s the answer? Impossible to answer. I love so many.

You can purchase a copy of Hollywood Values from Amazon.com.

One of the things many people notice about the Evansville music scene is that it is known for its cover bands. It seems like anytime you walk into a bar you’re going to be hearing the same cover of a Guns N Roses or Big & Rich song. Not all bands are doing cover songs, though. We caught up with Stephen Horning, the lead singer of Namasté. Namasté is a local band playing all original tunes.

How long has Namasté been together?

We’re coming up on our 9th year. We got together more out of necessity than anything. There aren’t that many musicians around the area that play the style of music we do. I was actually coming back from Boston where I had lived for quite a while. I was trying to figure out what to do with my musical abilities and I ran out of money. A buddy of mine had met a few of the guys from the band. They were, at the time, playing in a cover band around town. He introduced them to me the night I came back from Boston and we decided to start jamming together.

Did you start out playing original music or as a cover band?

The original intention was to play original music. We used covers to get to know each other since we all knew how to play the songs. We started writing songs immediately, and as soon as we had enough original material to play a show with, we started trying to get gigs.

Continue reading Interview: Stephen Horning of Namasté…

Evansville has been known for having the same radio personalities on the air for decades at a time. Personalities that do happy go lucky, fun shows where everyone is nice, no one is offended and we all get along. I don’t know about you, but I find that incredibly boring. Luckily, 106.1 KISS-FM is trying to do something a little bit different both in terms of the music their playing and their new morning show. KISS-FM is playing a more aggressive playlist with a more urban sound to it, and to match that new sound they brought in a new morning show: Van & Nikky B.

I sat down with Van & Nikky B this week to talk about the show, Evansville and the competition in town. Check it out!

How did you guys get into Evansville? What’s your background?

Van: I started out at Ball State’s telecom program. From there I landed an internship in Indianapolis for X-103’s Big Dumb Show. From there I got weekend mornings on X-103 and then a job doing overnights in Panama. I went on to do the morning show at that station until I was asked to stop coming to work. From there, Fort Wayne for 2 years doing a morning show until they also asked me to stop coming to work. Now, I’ve been here for about three months.

I grew up just outside of Chicago and was enthralled by morning radio. I was a junior in high school when I woke up to this guy named Mancow Mueller on the air.
I loved it because he was our guy. New York had their Howard Stern. LA had Kevin and Bean. When people listen to our show, they have told me their hear some of the Mancow influence when it comes to the pacing and how it can get loud and over the top. I want to do that.

Continue reading Interview: KISS-FM’s Van & Nikky B…

When you were growing up, you probably at one time or another had a dream of one day working at the local record shop so that you could get free CDs. Joe Smith took that dream and made a living out of it. It’s Evansville met up with Joe, owner of Joe’s Records, at his east-side store to talk about his store, the Evansville music scene and how the digital age has impacted his industry.

Tell me about Joe’s records.

Three years ago we opened our first shop on the West side and we dealt mostly with used CDs and Vinyl. We did well enough in the first year to open a second store on the East side of Evansville. We’re now looking to open a third one in Owensboro. It’s going well.

What prompted you to open your first store?

I managed the Coconuts in town here for 15 years and learned the trade from them. We fell out of love with each other, I took a year off and then came back to the only thing I know how to do. I could see it coming that [music stores] weren’t going to survive on new music, so we wanted to do the used thing. Even though we started used, we’re now immersed in the new even though we didn’t want to be, but it is what it is.

Continue reading Interview: Joe Smith of Joe’s Records…

Where did you get the idea of bringing roller derby to Evansville?

I played roller derby in Massachusetts where I went to school and then I transferred to USI where the closest roller derby team was in Louisville, which is about two hours away. I didn’t want to drive that far, so I just started one in Evansville. We basically just setup a MySpace site and pretty much harassed whoever looked like they would be interested in Roller Derby.

Where in Evansville do you find the type of person that would be interested in playing roller derby?

We just message a lot of people on MySpace at first, but then it became a word of mouth thing: one person tells their friend who tells their friend. We are planning on having recruitment nights in the future at local bars and other establishments in town where we can just hand out information. It can be kind of intimidating to come to a practice and see what’s going on without any beforehand knowledge. The best thing to do is probably get on YouTube and search for Roller Derby and see what it’s about.

What’s the basic premise of the game?

There are two teams of 5 girls. There is a pivot at the front of the pack, and they set the pace. There are also three blockers whose primary job is to prevent the opposing team’s jammer from getting through. The jammer is the only one who can score points. The jammers have to get through the pack on the first time and then on the second pass through they can score points for each opposing person they pass legally. You can’t pass out of bounds or with an illegal hit for example. We play by the WFTDA [Women’s Flat Track Derby Association] rulebook. They have a full set of rules that define what a legal or illegal hit is.

Continue reading Interview: Molly Hartshorn, Co-Founder of Demolition City Roller Derby…