Spectrum Tattoo Studio
January 25, 2025 | 8:00pm — 1:00am
The Claims | Equipment and Setup | The Investigation | Our Results
Just east of Chattanooga, Tennessee exists a small, unassuming building housing Spectrum Tattoo — a tattoo studio experiencing quite an assortment of paranormal activity.
The building itself is a single-story structure with a basement and is comprised of two main interior areas: A lobby up front, and the work area in the back. The basement is currently a mixture of storage and Halloween Haunt style photo backdrops. The building has held numerous businesses and gathering places over the years, with activity possibly stemming from the prior occupants.
Immediately prior to Spectrum Tattoo occupying the building, the basement held a private gym, where an unfortunate weightlifting accident resulted in the death of a patron. It’s quite possible that at least some of the paranormal activity stems from this accident, being such a sudden and possibly quite painful tragedy. However, it’s said that occupants before that conducted some rather unsavory activities in the building’s basement. The current proprietors have asked that we be gentle with the details as there are some legal boundaries we may bump against, so all I’ll say here is that it’s not very family-friendly. Our writeup and video below touch on that portion of the building’s past, where the current paranormal activity suggests an aggressor and victim relationship.
The Claims
The claims here are probably the most dramatic we’ve investigated to date, with the history and entities being outright dark. Even just talking about them brought one of the proprietors to tears. Perhaps the most dramatic of the claims involved physical interaction with objects in the building — electrical tools being turned on and off at random, necklaces being yanked off of necks, objects getting thrown at staff and customers, and even levitating objects (one being witnessed by three staff members simultaneously).
If that wasn’t enough, visual claims include faces being seen throughout the building (particularly on the stairs going to the basement) and in mirrors, as well as apparitions being seen in person and in video calls (to the tune of “who’s that behind you?”). Additionally, sounds are often heard throughout the building and basement, even including the staff hearing their names being called. Astonishingly, the activity even seems to affect individuals on a personal level, affecting moods out of nowhere and causing rapid illness.
Spectrum Tattoo has hosted several paranormal investigations before us, which have revealed a few key entities. The first is a male entity named Frank, who is possibly the aggressor mentioned above. Second is the Sad Lady, possibly the victim mentioned in that same paragraph. A third possible entity may be its own separate entity or it could be Frank, but is otherwise associated with passive-aggressive feedback and groping women.
Equipment and Setup
We're eight investigations in so far, and we haven't gone without any piece of equipment yet. That being said, we actually
didn't know what we were getting ourselves into this time around, having not heard any of the claims beforehand, so we really
needed to have everything ready to go. So per usual, this included our full kit: flashlights, EMF meters,
REM pod, cat balls, voice recorder, XLS Camera, and our
Spirit Box for Estes Method. This time around, however, we introduced a new piece of equipment to our kit,
recommended to us by our friends at the Wichita Paranormal Research Society — red light flashlights.
The flashlights mentioned previously are actually just the small Maglights for communication purposes. These red light flashlights
are for our visibility, replacing normal white light flashlights. The red light allows your eyes to get used to the darkness
faster and just isn't as much of a strain on your eyes while switching back and forth. We ended up keeping the flashlights
on pretty much our entire time in the basement, but that's the idea behind it anyways. If anything, it makes for
incredible photos!
The Investigation
This investigation started off rather different from our previous ones. Several weeks before the investigation, Jessica
and I decided it would be really fun to get tattoos at Spectrum earlier in the day since we were already heading there.
Not only would we be making use of the tattoo parlor as it was meant to be used, but giving them our business would be a
great way to say thanks for letting us investigate. Additionally, since tattooing is a long, painful process, we would
be adding our energy to the space, which may or may not have added some gas to the flame for our investigation.
Based on our host's accounts, activity seemed to be rather evenly distributed around the building, both upstairs and in the basement, so no one particular spot warranted being a starting place over others. Since we were already upstairs from unloading our equipment, we opted to start the investigation in the tattooing area, specifically in the boss' area where an item was reported to levitate off a shelf, hover for a moment, and then drop. Before doing too much, I did a quick sweep with the EMF meter. I'm sure that three people witnessing an event like that means it likely wasn't any sort of Fear Cage incident involving EMF-induced hallucinations, but it's important to at least rule it out — which it was. There were only two spots in the room that gave off measurable EMF (one of which wasn't repeatable, curiously), and they were near equipment that ordinarily does give off EMF, but nothing in the amounts needed for any kind of hallucination.
Following that, we conducted an Estes Method session in the same area. Jessica went under first, and almost immediately started giving responses. You'll see most of her session in the video below, but the critical takeaway from it was that as the responses started rolling in, it really felt like we were interacting with two spirits either arguing with each other, or vying for our favor. The responses we got were often juxtaposed — "Get out!" vs. "Come to party!" A warning and an invitation. Later Estes Method sessions returned similar types of responses, and after reviewing everything together, you start to see the big picture which eerily aligns with the former occupants and history of the location — a domineering figure perhaps giving off a welcoming facade, and a downtrodden, fearful figure looking out for other potential victims.
Note: We also set out our REM Pod in the center of the room, and used our voice recorder during the Estes Method session. It's important to run at least a few different pieces of equipment in the event you capture multiple positives that can correlate with each other. However, neither devices gave us any extra feedback during this part of the investigation.
After Jessica's Estes Method session, our newest teammate, Grant, wanted to don the headphones and give it a try.
Unfortunately, we didn't get much more than a handful of irrelevant words during his session. Either Jessica was the preferred means
of communication, or whatever we were interacting with was done for the moment. So we opted to shift things down into the basement.
In the basement, we brought out all our fancy toys and tried a variety of methods for communication. We started out attempting a flashlight conversation. We did seemingly get some intelligent interaction for a little while, establishing one flashlight as a "yes" and the other as a "no" (each with successful responses). Our success rate with this method started to break down, though, as we started getting both yes and no responses. It got to the point where we'd get a response (such as a no) and we would automatically state "...and yes" as the other flashlight would turn on. We theorized that the flashlights could have been placed too close together, but it was also correlating with what we experienced upstairs. An answer would be given, and its opposite answer would follow behind it. Again, the arguing. It really started to feel like we were dealing with two spirits.
The duality of responses was further explored in a third Estes Method session, this time with myself (David) going under. Responses like "love" and "horny" starkly contrasted with other responses like "save me" and "I hurt," and also seemed to further elaborate on the personalities involved in the location's history. Additionally, it was down in the basement where we captured all of our EVPs. The first of which (here on the right), seems to be a greeting when prompted to give us whatever message they wanted — a simple "hey" as a quiet whisper. Additional captured EVPs are below.
This EVP seems to be a direct response to a question, if we're understanding it correctly. This EVP is very, very quiet, so you really need to listen to it loud and multiple times back-to-back. But we hear "nothing" when asked "What's wrong?"
This EVP may not be a direct response per se, it may just be a mimicking type of response. But when asked "Is Frank down here?", we hear what sounds like "Frank," or at least the same kind of vowel sound that's in the name.
This EVP is less clear, but it's definitely a two-syllable response. This was during a series of control questions, "Can you say Spectrum?" It's possible the response itself IS "Spectrum" but all we hear is "mmm-mmm."
This last one is during an Estes Method session when we started hearing taps in the room. David asks "Can you make a sound that we can hear?" The response is "Oh yeah... YEAH!" The second yeah is far more prominent.
Note: For these EVPs, I've already increased the volume and cleaned up a lot of the noise, but we still advise you to increase the volume of your speakers or headphones. Also, headphones are recommended.
This investigation really centered around the Estes Method. While the Estes Method is up for debate on whether it's a reliable investigative method, it's arguably interesting when the responses tell a story that correlates with the known history of a location and the personalities involved and is further corroborated by other methods. To see our investigation of Spectrum Tattoo, please watch the video below:
Our Results
Not every investigation gives investigators what they are hoping to experience. This was a fairly quiet night when compared to the dramatic list of claims. It may have just been a quiet night by chance, the spirits therein may have been uncertain of us newcomers, or our approach was too passive to warrant putting out that much energy. That being said, when you view all our Estes Method sessions from a bird's eye view, you get a story being told that fits the history of the location. And to have one relevant name (Frank) pop up during one of those sessions tells us we were touching on something that ought to be explored in more depth, perhaps with different approaches. Regardless, we didn't walk away empty handed:
- Several recorded EVPs
- Relevant responses from Estes Method sessions
- Tap sounds in the basement
- Interactive flashlight session
Our work with Spectrum Tattoo isn't over, however! They are open to hosting us for a return investigation,
and we intend to jump on that opportunity. The owners have told us that past investigators have been sent running out of
the building, so there are experiences still waiting for us in this unassuming yet storied tattoo parlor. We haven't made
specific plans just yet, but a return trip later in 2025 is on the table.
We'd like to thank the proprietors of Spectrum Tattoo Studio and our hosts for the night for allowing us into your place of business to conduct an investigation. Your input throughout the day and evening was immeasurable for investigators like us, and we can't wait to come back and see if we can stir up a more energetic evening and bear witness to some more of the claims you experience regularly. Thank you so very much!
by David Reimer, posted March 10, 2025
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