John Karkheck at the staircase at the Clark Lake Community Center
It first happened Sunday, September 27, 2015, the night of the Blood Moon. While many around Clark Lake were gazing upward observing the astronomical phenomenon, a darker aberration was occurring. As if to say there was a morsel of truth to what are largely regarded as myths, the night of the Blood Moon marked the beginning of another shadow at Clark Lake. John Karkheck is president of the Clark Lake Community Center. Sitting on the deck of his north shore Clark Lake home, an inner voice whispered to him “Go to the Community Center.” Thinking that it was simply a random thought, he dismissed it. The third time this intuition nudged, he decided to act on this inkling. He got in his car and drove to the east end of the lake.
Upon entering the historic building, he snapped on the light switch and was met with a flash of light. “Bulb out”, he thought “and that bulb keeps blowing out.” He had his iPhone with him and recorded a voice memo as a reminder to bring back some LED bulbs that would last longer. He walked up the stairway in the middle of the house and began to feel that something was, indeed, amiss. There was a heaviness in the air that translated into unease. He heard some high pitch clicking and quickly surmised that the bats in the attic were active again. The Community Center inherited the clan from the days the house was located on Kentucky Point. John thought he saw a form resembling a figure out of the corner of his eye. But he quickly reasoned it must be a light from a boat on the lake playing a trick on his vision. He continued his survey of the property and concluded “nothing to see here.” So he returned home, poured an adult beverage, and joined the rest of the lake in watching the Blood Moon.
In the morning, he reviewed his iPhone voice memos. After hearing the reminder to purchase some LED bulbs, the voice activated app continued to play. It had picked up something that he had not heard while in the building. It was a scratchy male voice with a southern dialect saying something–but what? He was having a hard understanding the voice. He played it again and thought he could detect the words “don’t use the punk.” “Punk?” “What could that mean?” thought John. He asked Dotty, his wife, to listen to it. She responded “John I think you need to download that app again, something is wrong with it.” John’s puzzlement continued.
Several days later, he saw a cable TV show that investigates paranormal activity. John learned about EVPs or “electronic voice phenomenon.” According to those dealing with the paranormal, recording devices can pick up ghostly mutterings that can’t be heard by humans. Somehow the electronic equipment records communications from another dimension. On the show, a member of the crew will ask a question. Then when they listen back to the recording, they sometimes hear a response. But they are left with trying to figure out what it means. Frustrated with this mysterious incident, John got in touch with the producers of the show. They expressed strong interest in his call. After several more conversations, they made arrangements to visit the Community Center. They brought with them their equipment that allegedly picks up other worldly communications.
They arrived at Clark Lake one recent rainy afternoon and asked John and the few others who knew of their visit to keep it confidential. That evening, after a quick bite to eat at the Beach Bar, they set up shop in an upstairs bedroom at the Community Center and spent the night. The filming took place with the heart of the activity taking place around 3 am. As they departed for Metro airport the next day, they reported that they believed they had accurately identified the disembodied voice and connected what John recorded on his iPhone with a real life historical event at Clark Lake.
So what is it? The producers swore those who know to secrecy until the show airs. This website will report on this as the broadcast of the show draws near, probably around the first of April.
Note: In October there are lots of ghost stories. Some purport to be real, some are fictional. This one is in the latter category.
