Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Stephenson.
Hi Ben, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I started having unexplainable or Paranormal experiences when I was very young. It was easier to keep them to myself. You try and explain something to a parent or adult and you were considered to have a wild imagination. If you tried to tell friends that also didn’t understand, then you just became the weird friend.
From 2010 to 2012, I served a proselyting mission in Sacramento for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints where I had both spiritual and very paranormal experiences. In January of 2018, it was my turn to pick what my wife and I were doing for our Anniversary and I chose the stay on the Queen Mary, a docked haunted ship off the shore of Long Beach that had been turned into a hotel. Long story short, on our first night there my wife was held into the bed and suffocated by an unseen force and I was scratched as it left.
On that day, I wanted to know more about the who, what, where, when, why, and how of these types of experiences. I began practicing communication with these unforeseen unknown forces that seemed to roam around us and found that I had quite the knack for it. Could this be why I had all of these experiences throughout my life? Was I being prepared to help others who found themselves in similar circumstances?
I continued to practice these skills and later formed Central Utah Paranormal, @central.utah.paranormal, and began helping others in their homes and places of business for free. To help spirits find rest and rid them of spirits there to cause them harm or damage to their loved ones.
To clarify, not all spirits are bad, not everything is a demon as portrayed on many televised Ghost Hunting shows or Hollywood Films. They are in the 5% compared to the other 95% that I have encountered. Not every spirit is there to possess you and take over your body, most are trying to get your attention, want to feel remembered, and in many cases want you to know something.
I continue to do this work for free with a small team that I have assembled to assist me.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It depends on the case. One, in particular, I got a phone call from a local that had some strange things happening in her home, they didn’t think anything of it until their 2-year-old called out to her in the night and said, pointing into a dark corner of the room at night, “Mommy… Girl Scary.”
Those types of calls are few and in between, but cause you a heightened sense of help and compassion for that person. Most struggles come from those that don’t share the same thoughts and beliefs as you when it comes to the paranormal. People that bash you on social media or try to paint you in a bad light, especially those that don’t understand what you do or what your process is.
Many believe you are just inviting demons and dark forces into your life. That also comes from living in a very religious community, regardless of what you believe or what church you are a part of, there are certain stigmas/thoughts that have been set within the home for decades and generations of time that want you to steer clear of the unknown.
It has taken a lot of hard work to show others what we do and the beauty, peace, and light that can come of it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As far as my actual career, I am a full-time Deputy Sheriff during the week. I have worked in Corrections for about seven years. My last year has been spent working in the court system as a Bailiff and in Court Security. I love my career. I run Central.Utah.Paranormal in Millard County as the Lead Investigator with three others who volunteer with me.
We also travel around the state of Utah. Our team is a free service so none of us are paid.
We do what we do because we care about people and want them to better understand their own paranormal experiences better. We are based on communication, obtaining EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena), and using devices to verify the presence and history of the area to confirm the information that we discover throughout an investigation. Each one of us has a special trait, ability if you will, that helps assist in our Investigations.
I am very good at using Dousing Rods to communicate yes and no answers, another can respectfully gain EVPs better than any of us, and others can sense and feel different energies in a room (a discernment of spirits would be a better explanation).
I am most proud of those we have been able to help from a deceased father wanting his son to know he was proud of him to spirits that felt trapped in a home with a want to move on. Hearing that may make the hair stand up on your neck, it may bring you a sense of peace, and it may leave you questioning “How is this possible?” Many don’t understand.
They won’t until they have experienced this phenomenon for themselves. What sets us apart is the fact that we are there to help. We don’t make up fake information or fake videos for attention. We are not here pursuing a Hollywood career or television premiers.
We are here to help you and leave you with a sense of peace in your home or business.
What are your plans for the future?
We are now a part of PEX (Paranormal Experience) and have a yearly conference in Nevada where we and other like-minded teams take people on tours and get to show civilians and VIPs what it’s like to do what we do firsthand.
Last year, we were at the Tahoe Biltmore Hotel and Casino this year we will be in Virginia City at multiple locations doing the same thing. No super big changes as of yet, I would like to grow our team more. I am hoping to begin leading tours at some of our own local Utah locations, work on some documentaries, and sit down with people that just want to talk about and share their own experiences.
We all at some point have probably had an experience that we couldn’t explain and need a safe space with others that have had these experiences to talk about and discuss their own experiences.
Contact Info:
- Email: cupinvestigations@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.facebook.com/centralutahparanormalinvestigations/
- Instagram: @central.utah.paranormal
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/centralutahparanormalinvestigations/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CUParanormal1?t=ZhOku3IRYCVI7774eTekFQ&s=09
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/CentralUtahParanormal
Image Credits:
Ben Stephenson, Stephanie Eberle, Kayla Ellett, Randy Wilkinson, and Vivian Noir
