Page 21 - 201001 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - January 2010

January 2010_june_july_2009.qxd 02/02/2010 8:33 AM Page 21 21 Hottest ghost ever 21 Hottest ghost ever 'Hottest ghost ever' Twenty-seven-year-old Matthew reveals media hoax Kondracki of Enfield is scheduled to appear in Superior Court next Tuesday on a third-degree larceny charge, which carries one to five years in prison upon conviction. By Henri Paget, ninemsn The Journal Inquirer newspaper reported Thursday that Kondracki, an A photo that achieved international media investigator with the Enfield Paranormal attention showing a "ghost" in a barn in Society, was arrested Monday after a woman, Victoria is a hoax, according to a young whom police didn't identify, complained to woman who told ninemsn she is the figure in authorities. the image. Kondracki told The Associated Press the woman was the organization's manager and The digital photo, which was allegedly bought the camera for the group. He says she taken during a ghost tour in Winchelsea, was the last person to see it before it appeared on current affairs show Today Tonight disappeared in November. [] earlier this month. Adam Harris, a 21-year-old from Popular online paranormal Geelong, told the Seven Network the image was one of many he had taken at the Barwon Park forum, Iamhaunted.com, property. "I was taking photos because I felt a closes its doors presence come towards me, as in dark figures," Harris told the network. Iamhaunted.com - one of the world's One of the photos he claimed he took largest on-line community of paranormal during the tour last August showed a young researchers and investigators - closed its doors woman in a low-cut top looking at the camera. to the public on January 18, 2009. Once a "There was an image of a girl in the left frequented website for paranormal investigators hand corner of my screen," he said. all over the world, the domain But Megan Ann Walker, who is friends www.Iamhaunted.com, now renders only a with Harris on Facebook, told ninemsn that she single epitaph, "I Am Haunted - November 15, is the woman in the photo. 2006 - January 18, 2010" when the URL is "It's me, but I have no idea about entered into a web browser. Iamhaunted.com anything else," Megan Ann Walker told founder, Alan Rupnick, decided that it was time ninemsn. to end his venture with the on-line community “I had nothing to do with anything and I as financial struggles and conflicting objectives ain't getting anyone into any trouble for among the members grew too difficult to anything." manage. "The goal was to unite valid Walker said she was at Barwon Park paranormal researchers to work together toward during the ghost tour when the photo was a common goal" said Rupnick. He intended to discovered. several of the same friends and appear in photos further research and expand the knowledge base "I came out and said the photo looked of the paranormal through on-line discussions like me when they put it on the laptop but no showing them at the same parties. and the presentation of evidence - a paranormal one was listening," she said. Since being contacted by ninemsn, one think tank. "I just stood back and laughed and didn't of Walker's friends wrote on her Facebook: "I On November 15, 2006, Rupnick think anything of it until now." knew this would happen ... hopefully it will all founded Iamhaunted with one member - die off soon and you will come back from the The image has become popular on ghost himself. Iamhaunted quickly evolved from one hunting forums, where Walker has been dubbed dead hahaha". member to a little over 5,000 members in just "the hottest ghost ever". "Haha funny that some people still think over a year. Some of the membership included "She can haunt me any time!" one ghost it's still real," Walker replied. names such as, Troy Taylor, Keith Age, John Commentators on a YouTube video of a enthusiast wrote. report about the alleged sighting have claimed Zaffis, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Jason Hawes, The image has also caused a stir in Brian Harnois, Bill Bean, Scott and Doug from Europe, appearing in top-selling German the photo was part of a deliberate hoax. Ghostly Talk, Gregory Myers, and Lorraine tabloid newspaper Bild yesterday. “They played a joke and not even the Warren. At its peak, Iamhaunted.com garnered Australian Ghost Adventures media ‘experts' were able to tell it was a fake," one nine million page views per month, collected spokesperson Ron Dorre told ninemsn up to 80 viewer wrote. over sixteen thousand photographs, and “I know the three of them and I'm people took ghost tours at the mansion that day, contained several thousand blogs on the and no individual records were kept of the willing to tell people it was a fake." paranormal. guests. Another user also said he knew those Iamhaunted appeared to be achieving He said several people had contacted involved. what Rupnick set out to accomplish on a world- “Lmao, I know the three of them, this is him claiming to know the real "Barwon ghost", f***ing hilarious," the user wrote. wide scale, but as with any large-scale venture, including one who said it was a woman in IAH was not without its challenges. Financial Western Australia. “I can't believe they actually managed to struggles were always there" stated Rupnick, "We've been trying to track the woman pull this off." [] "dealing with the sheer amount of unethical and down for six months, since it happened," he hateful people was probably the most draining said. Connecticut 'Ghostbuster' of it all."In January of 2010, Rupnick had "The people on the tour don't recall Arrested on Theft Charge decided to close the site and as of January 18, seeing her, and it was especially strange since it 2010, IAH closed its doors. was a freezing cold night and the photo shows A 20-year veteran, Rupnick expressed her with a low-cut top." ENFIELD, Conn. — A Connecticut- the desire to continue his research in the However, Mr Dorre also said the based paranormal investigator charged with paranormal, but without all of the nonsense and metadata on Harris' camera showed the photo felony theft denies that he failed to return a drama that he felt corrupted Iamhaunted.com had been taken before the tour began. $2,200 thermal imaging camera he used during before its closure.[] On Facebook, Harris and Walker have investigations to its owner.