How appropriate that a spooky new documentary exploring the creepy things that go bump in the night at local places will premiere at the Oxford 7 Theater at the stroke of midnight on Devil’s Night (Friday, Oct. 30).
After about 1? years of interviews, on-site investigations and tireless research, filmmaker Jeff Jones, a 1997 Oxford High School graduate, is finally ready to debut his film entitled, ‘The Haunting Truth: Mid-Michigan’s Urban Legends and Paranormal Activity.?
‘I’m definitely excited about it,? said Jones, who owns the film’s production company, Midget Pickle Productions. ‘It’s even better than I had anticipated it being.?
Tickets for the premiere event are $8 each and moviegoers are encouraged to dress up for a costume party/contest.
The film will be shown again at the Oxford 7 on Halloween (Saturday, Oct. 31) at 9 a.m. and midnight. Tickets are $6.25 for the morning show and $8 for the late show.
Tickets can be purchased now at the Oxford 7 or at www.gqti.com.
‘All three shows will have door prizes donated by local businesses and businesses included in the film,? Jones noted.
A one-minute trailer for the film can be viewed by visiting www.hauntingtruth.com.
Using a combination of reenactments and actual footage from team investigations, Jones? film takes you on an unsettling journey through the often-unseen paranormal world that lurks in the shadows of our everyday lives.
Approximately 35-40 minutes of the 90-minute documentary deals with urban legends and paranormal activity in the Oxford/Addison area. The rest of the film takes viewers to Metamora, Romeo, Goodrich and Pontiac.
The Lakeville Cemetery on E. Drahner Rd. in Addison Township figures prominently in the film. ‘We interviewed about 12-15 people about the cemetery and Dunn’s Tomb,? said Jones, who lives in Davison.
Dunn’s Tomb is a mausoleum in the cemetery that holds the remains of James and Elizabeth Dunn, who owned the sawmill in Lakeville for many years. They died in 1930 and 52, respectively.
It seems like almost all the urban legends surrounding the tomb involve people, ranging from a little girl to a biker, getting locked or stuck in the mausoleum overnight and dying mysteriously.
Jones thought most of the people interviewed would talk about Dunn’s Tomb, but he was surprised that about half of them spoke of other strange experiences at the rural cemetery such as ‘seeing people that weren’t really there.?
‘I was excited about that,? he said.
While visiting the Lakeville Inn restaurant, at the intersection of Lakeville and Rochester roads, Jones said his investigators encountered a lot of ‘unexplainable noises.? ‘That will be covered in the film,? he said.
A house in Addison, the main part of which used to be an old Army barracks, is also featured in the film. Jones said the owners reported hearing ‘kids voices and kids giggling,? and having certain items around the house mysteriously go missing.
Unfortunately, Jones and his investigators didn’t capture any images of ghosts or apparitions on film.
‘The hard part is trying to get a spirit, or whatever you want to call it, to show up while you’re there,? he explained. ‘You’re only there for four to six hours at a time and the people that called us may have only experienced something once or twice in how many ever years they’ve lived there.?
The closest Jones got to actually seeing something of a potentially paranormal nature was when the facial reflection of one of his investigators changed in a mirror.
‘I saw it and another investigator saw it, but on film, nothing actually changed,? he said.
Some strange things, like voices, did show up on the digital audio recordings the investigators made.
‘We collected a number of EVPs,? Jones said. ‘Some of them are pretty creepy.?
EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomena and it involves electronically captured sounds that resemble speech, but are not the result of intentional voice recordings. EVPs are not heard in the environment at the time they are recorded; the voices are only heard when a recording is played back.
Common sources of EVP include static, stray radio transmissions and background noise, but some people claim these sounds are of paranormal origin.
Of the 30 or 40 EVPs collected by Jones? investigators, he said about 20 are featured in the documentary.
But not all the voices from beyond were found strictly on recordings.
While at a house in Romeo, Jones and four other members of his team were standing around a table, when they all heard a voice from the next room yell out two names. There was no one else in the house at the time.
‘That freaked me out,? he said.
After Jones? documentary premieres in Oxford, it will be shown throughout the month of November at the Uptown Palladium 12 in downtown Birmingham, the Clarkston Union Bar & Kitchen in Clarkston, and the Crofoot in Pontiac.
It will also be sold on DVD at www.hauntingtruth.com.