Foxridge Park in Henderson, Nevada is allegedly haunted by a little boy who was killed by a drunk driver. The boy apparently likes to play on the swing late at night. According to some reports he likes to swing alone, and if you look him in the eyes, he will turn into a “demon” and vanish.
I’ve been itching to do another paranormal investigation, and so it was that I found myself with a little free time one weekend. I decided that my team and I would hit the park and knock this one off my checklist. To be honest, the reports were vague, the sightings suspect, and I didn’t really expect to find anything of interest. But it was fast, easy, and didn’t require an appointment or permission, so we decided it was a good candidate.
For this investigation, I brought along four team members. Dana Richardson to act as our tactical/security guy. Matty Blumenthal, my lead researcher, and Erin Ashley Hall, my scribe. Both Matty and Erin Ashley are intuitive so it’s nice having them along. And we brought Dana’s girlfriend, Liz, who was willing to help out and take photos.
Our equipment list included the following:
EMF detector: I picked up a simple EMF detector at Fry’s Electronics so we’d have something to use on this investigation. My kick-ass paranormal EMF detector is still shipping from Amazon.com. But a simple one is better than nothing.
Flip Camera: I brought along my FLIP camera so we could film and narrate the action.
Digital Camera: I brought along a digital camera so we could take tons of pictures, which is always important on an investigation. Often the camera will pick up something that the human eye can’t see. Plus a photo lasts forever.
Digital Voice Recorder: We brought this along in case we got some EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon).
Walkie Talkies: I knew at some point I would have two teams going at the same time so I wanted us to be able to stay in communication with each other.
Flashlights: This investigation was occurring between 10:45pm and 12:15am in a dark park, so I knew we’d need some lighting.
Snacks and Caffeine: Always a plus if you have snacks and soda to keep you awake during a night time hunt. 😉 Don’t underestimate the power of comfort food and caffeine on a hunt!
Preliminary Investigation
Matty and I headed over to the park during the daytime to scope it out and get an idea of what we were going to be dealing with. We found the swing no problem as there are only two swings in the entire park. Luckily there was a picnic table right next to the swing set so I decided we’d set up there. We took some photos, filmed an introduction for the video, and left.
We also did some research online to find out what to expect and what the “story” was. Probably the best info I found was on this site: https://jeremytheskeptic.blogspot.com/2008/08/fox-ridge-park-ghost.html. I really liked that this guy did so much research. I know the people he interviewed and I know they are good honest people. After reading what he had to say about the park and the ghost, however, I really wasn’t expecting much.
Arriving at the Park
We all met up at the park at 10:30pm. The sprinklers were on and we had to traipse through some very wet grass. I’ve now added a towel to the list of things to bring on a future hunt. The park was pretty deserted, which was great. We didn’t want a bunch of people hanging around disturbing the location. The park is legally open until midnight and I knew we’d have to be there until approximately 12:15am, so I was glad to see it was deserted. We did hear loud music coming from a party a few blocks away.
We set up our equipment and filmed an update for the video.
Collecting Data
I asked Dana and Liz to walk around the perimeter of the park and take photos. The secondary part of the story was that there might be a ghost woman in the park as well, so we wanted to see if we could capture her on film. I decided to go with Dana and Liz in case I sensed something intuitively while we were walking. I left Matty and Erin Ashley at the table and told them to keep their eyes on the swing and to film it if it started swinging. I wasn’t expecting anything to happen until closer to midnight, but you always have to be prepared.
I took the EMF detector and a flashlight. I left the video camera behind. Dana, Liz, and I started walking through the park. She took photos in front of us and to the side, into the park. She probably got 50 photos just of that. The EMF detector was showing no radiation of any kind throughout the park. The only time we got a spike was when I held the device right up to the transformer located in the park. Then we got a nice spike, which just affirmed that the equipment was working. We made it back to the picnic table without incident.
The Tweens
Soon, a gaggle of tweens came marching loudly through the park. They asked us if we were hunting ghosts, if we were part of TAPS, and if we were professionals. I decided to interview them to see what they knew. We spoke to a girl named Mercedes who reiterated the story of the ghost boy who swings at night. She had never seen the swing move, but a friend of hers claimed he had. When I asked her if this boy was credible all of them laughed and said, “Not really.” Although we filmed them, I couldn’t put them in the video since they were underage and we couldn’t get parental consent. Some of the tweens left to go home, but a few of them stayed behind and planted themselves nearby to watch us conduct our investigation. They were quiet and respectful and I wasn’t too worried about them, though I was concerned that the more people we had watching the swing, the less likely the boy would probably swing.
Waiting and Watching
As time passed, we periodically took EMF readings by the swings. Nothing unusual. Liz continued to take photos of the swing area. We waited for midnight to approach. Shortly before midnight, a whole bunch of people converged on the park. Erin Ashley counted at least 20 people all hovering around us watching us film and investigate, and some people started playing on nearby equipment. One person even started playing a guitar. It was unfortunate that so many people were standing there watching the swing. If you were a little ghost boy who liked to swing at midnight, do you think you’d swing with so many people watching? There was nothing we could do to control the situation as it was a public location.
Midnight
At midnight we took a lot of photos and kept watching to see if the swing would move. There was a definite breeze in the park that night so we knew that if we were going to conclude anything paranormal that we would have to see some major motion by the swing.
By 12:10am we called it a night and concluded the investigation. We saw no evidence of paranormal activity, though absence of evidence is not proof of absence. In order to be thorough, we’d have to go to the park on many different nights and conduct similar investigations.
Conclusion
A couple of interesting things did happen but are not conclusive. First, I was getting some spikes on the EMF meter between the baby swings and the older kid swings. Consistently, the EMF reported a spike of .9 on the scale. Normal readings during the night were .0 to .3.
Also, Liz captured several orbs in her photos. What I found interesting about the orbs were that the biggest orbs were found near the swing and right around midnight. I’m not an orb expert so I really can’t say whether they indicate paranormal activity or are just dust reflections. What I found interesting was the timing and location of the orbs. So… something to consider.
Overall, it was a fun and blessedly short investigation. Plus no one got influenced or possessed, so bonus! 😉 I’m glad we did it. Next time, we’ll hit a more interesting location with a lot more evidence gathered by previous investigators. Below you’ll find our photos of the investigation and a link to watch our narrative video.
Foxridge Park is located at 420 N. Valle Verde Ave, Henderson, NV
EMF spike at the transformer in the park
Orb in the middle of the park
The team: Erin, Erin Ashley, Matty, Liz and Dana (left to right)
Erin Ashley wrote down everything we did and the time we did it. She did a great job as scribe.
Bright and large orb in the park. Sort of random.
An orb by our target swing
Another orb near the swing. Swooping in with delight?
An orb between the swing sets when I was getting a spike on the EMF in that same location.
Matty taking readings by the baby swings. Nothing going on there.
Checking things out by the swings.
More orb action between the swings
Right at midnight, we captured this large orb near the target swing.
Large orb right above the swing at midnight.
