How it started
I, Reflector reporter Cade Barker, risked my sanity through a tool that’s sole purpose is to communicate with the members of the afterlife walking among us.
What I heard stunned me in such a way that I messed up and didn’t repeat what was said when I was supposed to. It has haunted me hearing words spoken so clearly that were not expected.
The Saturday, Oct. 11, paranormal investigation of the Cedar Creek Grist Mill was performed in the same fashion as the previous one in October 2023.
Back then, Big River Paranormal’s investigation yielded results for believers of the paranormal and naysayers alike.
This marked the fifth time that Big River Paranormal has investigated the Cedar Creek Grist Mill in Woodland, each time with similar results. The Big River Paranormal team of Portland and Southwest Washington have members throughout the region and conduct investigations on a monthly basis. Their mission is to help people find logical explanations for what they’re experiencing and make them feel safer in their space.
However, sometimes a personal experience comes without a logical explanation.
The thing that haunts me
Barbara Ann Derry is a suspected victim of Clark County serial killer Warren Forrest.
Forrest, 76, is currently serving two life sentences after being convicted of murdering Martha Morrison in September 1974 and Krista Blake around the same time. Forrest had confessed to a total of 16 crimes involving women between 1971 and 1974, ranging from voyeurism to murder.
One of his convictions, which is important in the present context of this paranormal investigation, is rape.
Derry went missing on Feb. 11, 1972, at the age of 18. Derry was last seen on a highway trying to hitchhike from Vancouver to Goldendale. Her body was later found on March 29 of that same year in the pen stock of the grist mill.
At the end of the investigation, I decided to participate in the “Estes Method,” the same way we ended the 2023 grist mill investigation. The Estes Method involved me being blindfolded and wearing headphones while using a “spirit box” that scans radio frequencies.
The whole purpose of this is for investigators to ask a question and then hear a response that aligns with what was asked. But with the Estes Method, I have no idea what is being asked. I just repeat what I hear.
Since it is scanning radio frequencies, obviously the occasional music or the sound of what sounds like a sales commercial will pop in, but this time around, three distinct voices communicated.
One male voice and two female voices appeared across the radio static.
I even heard, “I’m here … Turn around,” from the male voice.
But the female voice is where I am at a loss and shocked — and why it is important to note Forrest in this case.
I could not even muster up my vocals right away to get the words out that a female voice over the spirit box had said.
“He raped me … water,” a female voice said.
Now, I am supposed to repeat everything I hear, but trying to comprehend those words spoken, which likely wouldn’t be coming from an AM or FM radio station past 11 p.m., is just haunting me. The only two words I can think of when it comes to hearing those words and knowing what likely happened to Derry some 50-plus years ago are “stunned” and “haunted.
Two female voices continued to say, “Water … In the water … Face down … Down.”
While partaking in the Estes Method, I was alone sitting against a wall and I felt a hard poke to the side of my body, but I haven't spent too much time reflecting on that exact moment compared to what I heard while listening to the spirit box.
Investigation results
It is also believed that another Forrest victim could be on the property of the Cedar Creek Grist Mill. Diane Gilchrist went missing at the age of 14 on May 29, 1974. Her fate remains unknown as her remains have never been found.
However, one of her sisters has visited the Cedar Creek Grist Mill and has told grist mill caretaker Jeffrey Berry that Gilchrist would always be humming tunes, singing and laughing. During the 2023 investigation, humming could be heard in one of four recordings of electronic voice phenomenon (EVP). The humming was seemingly close to audio recorders with investigators in the room — who were not making that noise themselves.
“We spent a lot of time as a team going over those and just kind of listening to it and trying to figure out what it really could be, and we came to a conclusion like none of us were humming,” director Jason Hassler said of the particular recording in October 2023. “It clearly sounds like a woman, and when you’re listening to it, it sounds like it’s closer to the recorder than we are.”
This time around, audio recorders were blanked on possible EVPs. Factors like loud water noise and investigators whispering dampened results, Hassler said. He highlighted the previous success and how the 2023 EVPs aligned with results prior to that.
When it comes to ruling whether an EVP recording is worth using as evidence, Hassler and the other investigators with Big River Paranormal follow the rule of “when in doubt, throw it out.”
Despite the interesting interaction with the Estes Method, Hassler and his team do not use that as evidence unless answers did align with an EVP. Hassler said some investigators swear by the Estes Method or a general use of a spirit box, but his team has opted to just make it a fun way to close out an investigation.
A need to investigate more of Clark County
As Clark County is really one of the oldest areas in post-settler history for the state of Washington, Hassler said there are a lot of interesting and unique places for paranormal investigations.
“We do have a couple local haunted establishments in Vancouver," Hassler said, adding that there is likely more but many business and property owners may be skeptical of the paranormal investigation idea.
Hassler said he has an interesting experience in Clark County, with one public location being the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
An entire area of interest is the town of Yacolt. The town name is derived from the Klickitat word, “Yahkohtl,” or “Yalicolb,” meaning, “haunted place,” or “place of evil spirits,” according to a HistoryLink.org article.
With a private residence, the process starts with a client interview to assess what has been happening and to see if the situation is a case Hassler’s team can tackle.
Big River Paranormal investigates Clark County and beyond, Hassler said. Oftentimes, his goal is to offer a logical explanation for what may be occurring for the client to be more comfortable in their space.
"I tell all of my team, you know, even if we’ve been to a place 10 times and found evidence, we need to be skeptical of everything and try to recreate what we found,” Hassler said. “That’s something we like to do if we do find something that we believe is paranormal. We’d like to go in and see if we can recreate that and find a logical explanation for it. Or maybe it’ll happen again and we still can’t explain it."
Hassler first became interested in the paranormal as he said he grew up in a haunted house and had some experiences as a child. He joined Big River Paranormal in 2017. Big River Paranormal has been conducting investigations for over 20 years and has helped with over 1,000 cases to date.
The investigations are free, Hassler added.
To learn more, visit bigriverparanormal.com.
