Spring Lake Cemetery Investigation

Built in 1865. There are no records for the graves. The newer section started around 1930 has records however. It has also been known as Spring Lake Memorial Gardens. There is a small military section put together by the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) where there is even Revolutionary War veterans, W.R. Miller and Frederick Vaughn, who are buried here. They were originally buried on farmland near here but when the farm was sold, they were moved here.

The original holding crypt building is where they used to hold people during winter months. It was first made up of wood and that is where the original records were once kept. Some have stated, incorrectly, of other holding crypts on the property. There are two chapels here for people to do visitations.

This is the largest cemetery in Aurora with about half of the interments, German. The earliest known interment is 1838.

Hauntings: One of those buried in the Revolutionary War section sometimes gets upset at those visiting and attempting to communicate with him. A past visitor to the cemetery after-hours got an attachment of a little girl who was apparently taken home by accident. She had to be brought back to the cemetery.

Many shadow figures have been reported in the past that tend to speak Spanish.

Address: 745 S. Lincoln Ave., Aurora, Illinois 60505

Phone: 630-897-4044

Owner: James Forbes

The Ghost Research Society investigated Spring Lake Cemetery on August 31, 2019 and the team members included: Mike Rosario, Kathie Para, Marge Sucha, Barbara Meagher and Dale Kaczmarek, with help from Len Novak from The Illinois Ghost Society, Don Archer and Laynee Loy from Spectrewaves and John Klimek from After Life Tours, Inc.

Equipment setup: Since this was a walking ghost investigation, no equipment was set up however hand-held devices were employed instead.

Experiments performed: EVP, Ovilus X with DTD screen, Phasma Box and SB-11 Ghost Box sessions were conducted at the Revolutionary Ware section and near the Foster row of graves. Also employed were digital recorders, cameras and camcorders, SLS device, Melmeter, Tri-Field Natural EM Meter and high-resolution 1080p Nightshot cameras with supplemental infrared illumination provided by Spectrewaves crew.

Personal experiences:

Len Novak: During our investigation at Spring Lake Cemetery in Aurora we had some interesting personal experiences along with some good evidence I along with the Dale from Ghost Research Society and Spectrewaves Paranormal witnessed on the SLS camera's at different locations. One gravesite we encountered a spirit named Debbie, who kept appearing and disappearing. She looked like she had in life a problem with her neck as the figure kept its head down most of the time. Dale had the Phasma Box which produced most of the information. At another location we didn't get much info only a figure on the SLS camera in a tree.

At the Veterans section a couple figures were picked up on the SLS camera, they were by the tombstones. They were asked if they could jump from one tombstone to another and one of them did. At the site we were getting strong EMF readings, after two of us ran EM pumps. The Foster family plot produced some EVP's while communicating with the PSB-11 spirit box. When we said hello and our names we got a response that said “Hi”, then there was one we couldn't distinguish what was said and when we asked if we should go a voice said, “Leave ". As far as pictures I got a couple with multi-colored orbs and one was unusual as it wasn't completely round. It was a very satisfying night.

Mike Rosario: Introduction: Some of the GRS team and I traveled to Spring Lake Cemetery and Memorial Gardens located at 745 S. Lincoln Ave., in Aurora, Illinois. This was my first time at this location with fellow ghost hunter and psychic John Klimek from Afterlife Paranormal Society. Many strange and very interesting happenings were reported in and around this location. It is also the actual final resting place of the founders of Aurora, Illinois!

Equipment used and Initial Investigation: Our investigations took off at approximately 9:00pm with some members of the GRS team, Dale Kaczmarek, and I, and was led by John on Saturday, August 31, 2019. Weather was comfortable, with a slight breeze outside. Rain soon ensued afterwards at around 11:30p.m. I did travel a bit light when it came to equipment, because it was a small investigation, but I did compensate between equipment and investigating just as equally. I brought my K-II meter, a Sony Night Shot Handy-Cam DCR-TRV13 NTSC 560 Digital-8 20X Optical Zoom Video Camcorder, an Amzdeal Tri-pod, a Green Laser Grid (nighttime investigating), a Philips Voice Recorder, and a Police Security Elite Blackout 615 Lumen Hands-free Heavy-Duty Head Strap Flashlight.

For this investigation, we were guided by Afterlife Paranormal John Klimek. He did such a great job explaining some of the history and hauntings associated with the grounds, and by using his psychic abilities, he picked up on several of the spirits there at the cemetery. We traveled to several notable locations within the cemetery. It was quite fascinating. I also learned more about some of my gifts of sight/foreseeing, and as an empath. John is very knowledgeable in these fields as well, and I learned plenty from him since he is a fellow sensitive. Personally, and honestly, I became a bit emotional because of what was introduced, and taught. However, I felt really good in a way, because I felt like I wasn't alone in the world with these strange, yet fascinating gifts that I've started to slowly develop over time as an adult; but that I have been noticing things have gotten a little stronger for me as time progressed. In short, I was starting to know a little bit of myself that hasn't been revealed too often to the world.

Investigation Wrap-Up: The investigation ended approximately around 12:00a.m. on Sunday, September 1, 2019.

Evidence: Upon reviewing all of my evidence, I didn’t capture any visual or audio evidence from my equipment that night, unfortunately.

Conclusion/Overall: This was a very cool ghost investigation! Would definitely love to come back here to this location, and investigate further with Afterlife Paranormal. Many thanks to John Klimek and Mike Smith for letting us come along and participate in this investigation. Such a very cool team!

Dale Kaczmarek: The weather started out nice but eventually turned miserable with cold rain. The SLS device picked up a number of strange stick figures that seemed to be jumping into the ground close to nearby tombstones. There were also fluctuations on the Melmeter that ranged from 1.3 to 1.9 near the Revolutionary War site. There were no EMF spikes later at the Foster graves site.

There did seem to be some exact responses to questions asked especially near the Foster grave site while using the Phasma Box and the SB-11 Ghost Box. If the weather wasn’t so terrible, we could have run longer EVP sessions and deployed more of our equipment. However I don’t believe that team members wanted to risk ruining some of their equipment due to rain damage.

Our team did seem to split up a bit and was not aware of any evidence that the other team members might have captured, if any.

Evidence collected:

Hi springlake.MP4 – while conducting an SB-11 Ghost Box session by the Foster graves, a question was asked, “Can you say hello to everybody?” The device responded with what sounds like a faint female, “Hi.”

Kinect springlake.MP4 – a video from Spectrewaves YouTube Channel while conducting an EVP session and using the SLS device near the Foster graves. (Credit to: Spectrewaves, Don Archer and Laynee Loy)

Spirit box springlake.MP4 – a video from Spectrewaves YouTube Channel while conducting an SB-11 Ghost Box session near the Foster graves. (Credit to: Spectrewaves, Don Archer and Laynee Loy)

Think I’m good springlake.MP4 – while conducting an SB-11 Ghost Box session near the Foster graves, a question was asked, “Do you want us to leave? Say goodbye.” The device responses with what I believe says, “Think I’m good” while others heard, “Goodbye.”

Words spoken by the Ovilus X in dictionary mode: priest. Nothing in phonetic was picked up.

Conclusions: This was an interesting location. It is always amazing to investigate a cemetery after dark and legally. A big thank you to John Klimek from After Life Tours, Inc. and Mike Smith for arranging these amazing events!

The cemetery was absolutely huge, so we split up and investigated several different locations with two teams and various pieces of equipment. I and Novak wanted to cut away from the tour a bit early so that we could investigate a bit more and work with Don and Laynee, who I highly respect! I believe that we picked up a great deal of evidence.

It seems however that one session was missing from the investigation. When we first arrived at the Foster graves we conducted a Phasma Box session which for some reason either didn’t record, or I never started my digital recorder. Luckily Spectrewaves was running video the entire session and caught those EVPs that appear in the “Kinect” file.

I did learn a few pointers from Don and Laynee regarding a much better Nightshot camera and IR illuminators that I will be purchasing and have for 2020. Thanks again to all those who participated in this private event and perhaps we can travel back here again in the future!