April 13, 2007 Friday the 13th....... downtown business investigation was a success. Very cool huge old building in downtown Streator. On this investigation we took 2 teams with us since this was such a vast huge 1/6 a city block building. We are still reviewing all of the tapes as of yet. All of the pictures have been loaded and are also being reviewed over.
In this particual building three of our investigators had their brand new batteries zapped immediately... which we LOVE that sign...lol!! Prior to this happening the investigators were able to catch a great picture of an ecto plasmic mist, several moving orbs and not to mention several rainbow colored orbs. YAY TEAMS!!! We are waiting for the reveal with the owners of this building here before we update all the pictures and evidence. This is one that we will be doing yet again and have gainful permission to do so from the current owners.
We did manage to find out from the Streatorland Historical Society that the building was owned by Carl Bodenstein and the upstairs had been a local roller rink. The building was known as Andora Hall from 1932 - 1939, and then known as either Sterling Hall from 1939 until 1948.
Now, the present owner has told us that the basement area was also used as a morgue for a near by funeral home. He said that they would wheel the bodies down the alley on gurnees bring them down the basement for embalming and then transport the bodies back to the funeral home for the services. Whether this is true or not we have not found any information linking this. We are still researching what this building did become after 1948 and will post this information when we do..
Two teams consisting of 13 members entering this downtown building here in Streator........ Friday April 13, 2007.
Downtown local building investigation April 6, 2004
This is a very cool old building that most of it is not in use and several of the floors of this vast building are very empty. On this first investigation we not only got cold spots but also there was alot of present activity. There were only three of us present that went through this building on the preliminary investigation.
Alot of strong orbs on the second floor of this building, and then they move.
Here is a shot of the offices in the front of the building and there are alot of orbs present in this picture...... and then the second shot taken they have moved and are pretty well gone.
Upon viewing the basement of this building several cold spots were also felt and we knew that we weren't alone down there at the time either. In this next picture there is a great shot taken of a very strong bright orb that is in motion, along with several other orbs that are also present. Then there is also a close up of this moving orb.
Downtown local business investigation part # 2 .....April 16, 2004.
This is the second scheduled investigation at this local downtown building. On this particular investigation there were 10 investigators that got to attend due to the vast size of this building. Several temperature reading fluxuations were noted, as were different smells by several different investigators. Some of these smells were the smells of donuts, pickles like a vinegar smell and also the smell of an iodine substance was noticable. We were later able to confirm that most of these detected smells did come from an area that we found out to be the employees lunch room of many years prior.
During the course of this investigation several batteries went dead and had their power zapped immediately from several cameras. Lead investigator Kay couldn't seem to keep any camera or video camera that she used running for very long at all, and all of this equipment all had brand new batteries put in right before the start of this particular investigation.
In the basement of this building there seems to be the most activity that the team was experiencing. Not only again were there temperature fluxuations and extreme temperature drops felt with alot of cold spots. But also during this investigation there was a pair of work goggles that were hanging on a nail by one of the doorways that just started swinging back and forth on their own. When this was witnessed by the team two different tape recorders were able capture an EVP of a man saying when asked who he was..... " Robert Franklin". Perhaps this was an ex-employee of this building at one time. But we have yet to find out just who this particular Robert Franklin could in fact be. We are still searching through death records in attempts to find this man.
UPDATE: We have recently been told from the Streatorland Historical Society that there was infact a "Charles" Franklin and his wife Elizabeth that had been employed at the Lipton T building. Now, this evp clearly states that of being "Robert" Franklin, whether this mans legal name was Charles Robert Franklin and he went by his middle name which is not uncommon we are still searching for this information.
Picture taken in the basement where we do believe to be that of a siloette of a man standing in the foreground. We don't know if perhaps this could in fact be this Robert Franklin standing here?
Lead investigators Dave, Keith, and myself in the background filming. For some reasoning on this particular investigation every piece of equipment that I touched or used the batteries would immediately be zapped. This happened three times with two different cameras and then finally the video camera too as well. I am seen here video tapping in the background, there was a huge orb that flew over Keith's head and I asked, "who are you".... that was the end of the video camera battery then also.
Several orb pictures were captured on this investigation here is one of them with alot of orbs present.
The following was from the Times Press in 1958
Thomas J. Lipton Co. serves entire midwest from modern plant here.
Theoretically, Streator and its 16,000 population has been moved to within 50 miles of a world port by Thomas J. Lipton, Inc. This came true on July 13, 1957, with the arrival at Chicago's Navy Pier of the first all-water shipment of tea from India via London, across the Atlantic and into the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence. The shipment consisted of 678 tea chests weighing 35 tons - equal to some 14 million bags of Lipton tea.
As a result, the name Streator, Illinois, more and more takes its place in shipping circles from London to far - flung plantations in the Orient, and wherever the long arm of Lipton's tea operations stand. On April 7, 1947, the Streator plant of Thomas J. Lipton, INC. was officially opened in the present building. In terms of modern plants as they are known today, the early working facilities were somewhat lacking material and office equipment was almost non - existent, due to postwas priorities and shortages common to many during the war years.
The plant structure itself, however, was basically sound. From 1916 until the Lipton acquisition, the building had been occupied by the Baker Brothers Wholesale Food House, and as such was sadmirably suited for Lipton's tea processing, packaging and shipping needs. In that year of 1947, Lipton started operations on one six - hour shift basis, running machines that packaged tea in guaze bags stitched with thread. Many packaging improvements have since followed, including the latest development the "flo - thru" tea bag that has received national acclaim.
Within 30 days after occupying the plant the operation was placed on a two - shift basis to meet the increasing sales demand for Lipton tea, and this level of activity has continued uninterruptedly offering Streator men and women steady employment. Two years later the growing demand for Lipton tea made it necessary to build an additon to the existing structure, adjoining the original four - story building on the south side. This added 20,000 square feet, and made a total of 100,000 square feet of space currently devoted to processing, packaging, shipping and adminstrative functions.
The "flo - thru" tea bag development - considered the tea industry's most progressive product improvement in several decades - occured in 1956. It required installation of entirely new typed of machines throughout the plant. This was followed by new executive offices, a conference room and general offices. Air conditioning was installed in production as well as office areas. Inside the green - trimmed, red brick, four - story building, spotlessly uniformed workers perform many activities necessary to the production, packagins and distribution of "brisk" Lipton tea, one of the nation's favorite year - round beverages. The local plant packs four blends of black tea and three blends of green tea, in tea bag packages and in various bulk quantities. All told, the plant puts our 19 different sizes and packages of tea.
The finished product is shipped by rail or truck depending on final destination and urgency of shipment. Currently, the Streator plant ships basically into a 10 state area comprised of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska. There are many occasions, however, when the Streator plant also supplies packaged tea to other western, southern and eastern sections of the country - including the new 49th state, Alaska.
PLEASE note: that this Lipton Tea Company here in Streator opened in 1947 and closed in 1964. Lipton's employed approx. 300 people while in Streator.
Just some history on this grand building and the people who worked there for many years of service. We are still searching for "Robert Franklin" .
