Matt Hoyle - Encounters: With the Strange and Unexplained

Encounters is about experiences with the strange and unexplained. I spent the summer of 2006 traveling across America seeking out and photographing people who believe they have had their own encounters with UFOs, spirits, or monsters.

I went ghost bustingvisiting haunted cemeteries, castles and plantations, possessed homes, and crypts. I went on expeditions to the hunting grounds for werewolves, swamp beasts, and other creatures. I toured places that would be more at home in The X-Files: Area 51, Roswell, and other UFO epicenters. I photographed each person at the scene of their encounter and tried to re-create the mood at which the encounter happened, so that you could feel a little closer to their experience.

These are their encounters.

Matt Hoyle

He was dead
20 years,
but was
standing
right there.

I was frightened even before I entered the Amityville horror house. As I approached the stairs to go to the second floor landing, I felt a huge force and the atmosphere around me seemed to solidify. Later that night the evil followed me home. While sitting reading I felt almost paralyzed, then a cyclone of wind and darkness suddenly seemed to suck me into it. I made a big sign of the cross, called on my faith, and demanded that the evil leave and go back to where it came from.

Lorraine

Monroe, Connecticut

In the 50s, the water heater in the foyer of our theater blew up. A little boy called Bobby was on the stairs at the time and was killed. Some of the performers started stringing up doughnuts as offerings to the boys spirit. One Christmas season, the director made the crew take the string of doughnuts down. On opening night some of the cast forgot to turn up; doors and windows were opening and closing by themselves; people were forgetting their lines and lightbulbs were exploding. Now everyone offers Bobby something for luck so he doesnt play tricks on them.

Dennis

KiMo Theatre

Albuquerque, New Mexico

There is one suit of armor among these that moans and bellowsparticularly during the month of March. Many whove heard the armor describe its moan as a long eerie sound that starts with a guttural growl and ends with a high-pitched ear-piercing scream. Some become frozen with fear while others say the sound is enough to give them a heart attack! Some visitors have also seen it raise its right arm, at times. Ive been told the suit is from Italy and the former occupant was killed when a weapon struck his head. Although the suit has been restored and the hole in the helmet was carefully repaired, the suit of armor doesnt stop bellowing!

Stephen

Belcourt Castle

Newport, Rhode Island

My husband and I visited the penitentiary one evening to investigate paranormal activity there. We were in the basement and wed turned off all flashlights so as not to interfere with our friends camera exposure. In the pitch darkness I felt a hand slide up my back and grab my shirt. I began to tremble and called to my husband for help. He turned on his flashlight and could actually see my shirt moving as the unseen hand tugged on it. There was nowhere to run so I tried not to panic and stood stiffly waiting for whatever it was to go away. It finally let go.

Kristall

Moundsville Penitentiary

Moundsville, West Virgina

Im a ghost hunter, as is my son Ben. We were photographing this guy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, when we witnessed a parasitea nonhuman being that feeds off peoplestanding behind the mans shoulder. Its very rare to have an entity appear in a photograph, but you can clearly see it, it literally blocks out the wall behind it. Some say that there are different worlds all around us. I think thats one way to explain ghosts: lots of people, places, times, and things all existing in the same space-good old quantum electrodynamics.

Paul and Ben

Woonsocket, Rhode Island

I work at the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisisanaits one of Americas most haunted houses. It was getting ready to rain one evening and I looked outside and saw a couple getting out of their car, and noticed their little girl behind them. When they came in to purchase their tickets the man asked for two adult tickets and I asked him what about his daughter, but he said he didnt have a daughter. But I saw the child: She had a white and red dress. Later when I was alone I felt a little tug on my dress, like a child might make. I felt a sudden cold numbness. I didnt want to look down.

Hester

St. Francisville, Louisiana

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans. A lot of the spirits here are from the early 1800s. During the yellow fever epidemic people would be pronounced dead when they were actually only in a coma. When another family member died, the tomb would be opened and a new coffin placed inside. Imagine how surprised people were when they saw scratches along the top of the original coffins. I spend a lot of time in this cemetery and Im sure the spirits are trying to communicate with me. Ive felt them touch me on the cheek, tug on my dress, and just watch me. They are here, right now.

Kalila

New Orleans, Louisiana

It was October 1977 and I was making breakfast for my husband. I was filling a tortilla with eggs, chilies, and beans when I looked in my skillet and saw an image. I said to my daughters, It looks like our Lord Jesus Christ. We were all shaken so we drove to a nearby church where the priest told us it was merely a coincidence. But I believed it was a miracle and asked him to bless the tortilla anyway. I took the tortilla home and put it in cotton wool to protect it. We also built a shrine and have had thousands of people visit over the years.