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First Investigation

November

The building had a stone rubble foundation, the exterior walls a greyish-beige stucco covering the original round log construction. The design appeared to be salt box with clear modifications done over its long history. The front porch, probably added in the 1920s, had a cement floor pad and craftsman-style, square-tapered columns on top of stone piers. We stood in the street and compared the front of the building to the photo taken by Google Street View and could clearly see where the alleged spirits appeared to be standing at the instant the photo was snapped.

Out back was an ancient barn, although not as old as the cottage. We decided not to enter the barn, but remained outside until the rest of the team arrived.

I found an old well not far from the house, which was capped off and now sported several dying potted plants.

Soon after, Victoria and Peter arrived on-site. Peter had the key and we entered the cottage by the back door, into the kitchen. It was obvious that the cottage had under gone numerous renovations and upgrades over the years. The back part of the cottage, where the kitchen was, had been added around 1890. Peter explained that the building had been moved to its current location in 1873 from about two miles away. The team did a quick tour: on the main floor was a powder room; a kitchen that opened up onto the main room, or studio as it was currently called; and two mid-sized rooms on the north side. Stairs led from the main room to the second floor and we filed up them. At the top of the stairs was a large open area, to the right was a small bedroom, and at the rear of the building was a larger bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. The floor was uneven underfoot.

The team fanned out to different rooms in the cottage and prepared their personal equipment — digital cameras, digital recorders, and gauss meters for reading electromagnetic fields. Paul wanted our first camera set up in the rear bedroom, facing toward the large open area and the stairs. The high-quality, built-in microphone on this camera would capture all sounds of movement and, hopefully, Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). Paul checked the lighting and gave me the thumbs-up sign to begin recording. Next, Paul and I moved downstairs to the front entrance and set up a second camera facing through the main room toward the stairs. The built-in microphone on this camera was designed to pick up sounds as low as 15 Hz, with this frequency we would be able to record sounds and voices outside of our normal range of hearing. (Human hearing is from 20 Hz to 20 KHz.) We placed a third camera in the kitchen facing the back door. Our audio/video surveillance was now live and recording.

As we were setting up, Peter told us some of the history of the building and the move from its original location to where it now sits. In its long history, the building had been used as a church, a private residence and farm, a rental home, and a business. Peter had pulled a list of names of people associated with cottage from the local archive, but it was incomplete. As Peter started to describe how the cottage had been moved, Paul, standing near the base of the stairs, heard a male voice from upstairs say, “Yes.”

Paul moved quickly up the stairs and looked past the large open area to the camera. Nothing was there. None of us were on the second floor at the time we heard the voice, and since we had searched the second floor just moments ago, we knew there no human intruders in the building. Was it the voice of a spirit agreeing to what Peter was saying about the building’s history?

Victoria entered the northwest room on the main floor and immediately felt nervous. She wasn’t frightened; just a nervous feeling washed over her. As she stepped out from the room the feeling vanished.

Joanna, one the team’s mediums, arrived on-site.

[As Peter welcomes her into the kitchen, his digital voice recorder is hit by a charge of static.]

Joanna handed Peter the Google Street View photo that he had sent to her earlier. As a medium, Joanna is sensitive to spirit energy and can receive psychic impressions from photographs.

“So, what did you get [from the photo]?” Peter asked.

“Interesting,” she replied. “I felt an older European couple and the husband was very abusive; a strong man, not fearful. This house was his, the wife was his property — that kind of mentality. He’s not scared of us and his presence is all over the place.”

[Male voice EVP: “Right.”]

[As Peter and Joanna talk in the kitchen, a male voice is captured on audio saying “Plain Friday.”]

When this EVP was later reviewed, we were unsure who he was talking to or what the meaning of this phrase was. Was it meant for us?

Paul, Victoria, and I moved to the bottom of the stairs and were about to enter the kitchen when all three of us heard a woman briefly humming, but unfortunately this was not captured on any of our recording equipment. Because it was not captured in a recording, this was not an EVP. Instead, it is considered a “disembodied voice” because it was actually heard by us in real time.

I looked to Paul, who raised his eyebrows, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was: two physical manifestations of voice in such a short time. This place seemed extremely active. There was no telling at that time what we might encounter next or what EVPs were being captured.

Peter and Joanna moved toward the studio. Peter said, “So this male …”

“He’s just following us, so where we are, he’s going to be,” Joanna stated.

[There is a static burst on Peter’s digital voice recorder.]

Joanna looked back toward the kitchen and said, “Not so much in the kitchen, that wasn’t his place.”

Joanna stepped into the studio. “He tolerates the people here. He is curious and has some intrigue about them. If he wanted them out, they’d be out.”

Peter stopped and looked around.

“What’s the matter?” I asked him.

“I felt like I walked into a cobweb. It touched my forehead.”

Everyone had passed through this doorway many times since we arrived. We examined the doorway, the ceiling, and Peter’s hair, but found no evidence of a spider web. It had been observed at other haunted locations that a spirit’s energy may cause a person who comes into contact with it to feel as though they had walked into a spider web.

Walking into the northwest room, where Victoria had felt the “nervous feeling,” Joanna was quick to report experiencing a shiver. “I am getting constant shivers here. I think he spends a lot of his time in this room.” Joanna leaned against the west wall, facing the front window. “I think he would watch out the window so that he could see out, but not be seen. He thinks people can still see him. I think he did this with his wife as well, to monitor her. I am not getting a name though.”

Marilyn moved to the northwest room and stood in the doorway. She gasped involuntarily, but said nothing.

Joanna looked at Marilyn and exhaled loudly. “I think it’s just his energy all around us.”

“Oppressive?” Peter asked.

“Not necessarily. I am surprised. I assumed it would have been, yet it’s not. I almost feel like he lost his aggression when he lost his wife. Or maybe just because so much time has passed. He just couldn’t control anybody now. But he still likes to think that he is in control, so that is why I said if he wanted the people here out, they would definitely be gone.”

“Do you think he likes our company?” Peter asked.

“No, no. He’s curious only, but he doesn’t like what I am saying. It is, quite frankly, pissing him off,” Joanna said.

“Is he speaking to you?”

“I’m feeling like he is, um … a little more combative because he could only beat up his wife.… Not so strong anymore … Oh, he didn’t like that.”

Peter moved past the northwest room as Marilyn stepped out and reported that she felt it was claustrophobic.

[The voice of a male is recorded on Peter’s digital recorder: “They had me.”]

“I don’t fear him though, because I don’t think it’s anything we can’t handle,” Joanna stated.

[Three quick bursts of static are captured on Peter’s digital voice recorder.]

“He was able to antagonize and abuse his wife, but that doesn’t mean he’s capable of doing that to [just] anyone — you know what I mean? They [the spirits] think they’re strong in their own mind.” [Another burst of static.] “Really they are cowards!”

“That is awful,” Marilyn interjected.

“The wife was so abused,” Joanna stated.

[The digital recorder captures a gravely sounding male voice grunting and saying: “Aw.”]

[Victoria’s digital recorder captures the sound of a clock ticking eight times, though there is no clock in the house.]

“She was a frail thing,” Joanna said, looking around.

“No name yet?” Peter asked.

“Well, it’s like Elizabetha, or something like that popped into my head. European … Eastern European,” Joanna stated.

“Right. Ukrainian?” Marilyn asked.

“Something like that.”

Victoria reported from the northwest room that she felt pressure in her head.

Marilyn caught something moving out of the corner of her eye, like a flash of light passing over our heads.

[Whispering is caught on Victoria’s recorder and then two more ticking sounds.]

Paul was standing in the living room and reported feeling tingling on his left side. I scanned the area with my gauss meter and detected a reading of .3 to .4 milligauss. The reading came and went however close to the ceiling. I detected a reading of 1.1 milligauss, which was attributed to a hidden electrical line. However, when Paul moved away from the area the readings went to zero, except at the ceiling.

[Peter’s digital recorder captures the sound of a woman moaning.]

The team headed upstairs.

[A male voice says something unintelligible that is recorded on the main-floor surveillance camera as we climb the stairs.]

Most of the team moved into the large rear bedroom, trying to stay out of the way of the surveillance camera. Marilyn stopped at the top of the stairs and hung back in the large open area with Joanna.

“Hmm. Okay, this is his secondary area where he spends time. This used to be the master bedroom,” Joanna said, looking around. “I feel they were here for quite a few years on this property. That is why he claims ownership over it. He might have built this place. It’s his land, you know, and land is important.”

Peter moved closer to Joanna. “By length of time what do you mean?”

“Until the day he died.”

“But how long ago? When you say for quite a long time, a hundred years, or …?”

“Perhaps sixty.… Oh, no, no.”

“Within a hundred years?”

“Yeah, no. Umm….” She paused. “See I’m not getting … I got her in the ’40s, I didn’t get her before that, even though the property might have been around, he came in. I feel like, in the 1940s and stayed until about the ’60s or ’70s. So I don’t know. He claims the property as his, though. Even though the house might have been here for a hundred years, unless he did enough renovations to it and enough changes to the property, he feels that it was nothing before him. You know what I mean?” Joanna said. “I also feel he is a very unsettled personality; he could never rest, always uptight, concerned about every little stupid thing that he couldn’t control.” Joanna looked out the window. “I doubt that he was very social with his neighbours. It is hot in this room.”

Marilyn moved into the master bedroom and walked toward the bathroom. Peter joined her.

[There is a long breathy whisper on Victoria’s recorder.]

Peter and Marilyn entered the bathroom.

[Male voice EVP: “Get out.”]

I set up the Spirit Box, which is a device designed to scan through radio signals at a 100-millisecond sweep. This particular time the unit was set to FM frequencies with a reverse sweep. The idea is that as the unit sweeps through these frequencies at such a fast rate, it produces white noise that allows us to capture spirit energy communicating.

Paul started working on setting the lights on the upper floor to optimize the camera view. “That will cut any glare.”

Peter suggested some lighting options. [His digital recorder captures a female voice saying quickly, “That’s a spike.”]

Joanna walked into the bathroom and pulled the shower curtain open. Inspecting the tub, she said, “He would violently rape his own wife.”

“In this area?” Peter asked, moving in beside her.

“Yeah.”

“Is that right?” Peter yelled out.

[A “yep” comes immediately over the Spirit Box.]

There was a bang from downstairs, and everyone looked at each other.

“Is that the furnace coming on?” Peter asked.

“Can’t be, something is moving downstairs,” I replied, moving to the doorway to get a better position from which to listen.

“I thought I was hearing something through the vent, like something starting up,” Peter said.

“No, it’s something moving down there,” I whispered.

“That’s good, let it move,” Paul said.

On the main floor, surveillance camera activity was being recorded.

[There is a clicking sound, then a male says, “Miriam” — pause — “They are all alive.” The voice fades away and the rest of the message is lost.

An older female voice replies, “Ooooh” — pause — “Thank you.”

The camera captures the creaking of the main floor.

Male voice: “Where are they?”

Female voice: “Upstairs.”]

We noticed flashes of light on the upstairs camera and small orbs flying about the room. The light flashes could have indicated something passing the camera; however, the orbs were nothing more than dust particles reflecting the Infrared illuminators (IR) back into the lens.

I asked Marilyn to shut off the main upstairs light. She walked over and toggled the switch off.

On the main floor, camera activity was being recorded.

[Immediately, a male says, “Stay there” — pause — “Are you okay?”

There is no reply. However, there are footfalls near the main-floor camera.]

We headed back down to the main floor.

“Us being here will start something,” Victoria stated.

“Upset him ...” Joanna said.

We all moved into the kitchen. Peter pulled a drawer open and took out a small hand gun. He handed it to Paul, who examined it.

The pistol was extremely rusted, the grips rotted away. Paul passed it to me and I checked to make sure there was no ammunition in the cylinder. It was empty.

Joanna took the gun and held it in her hands. “I sense … him. Not anything off this [the hand gun]. He is around, laughing. He is saying, ‘Oh, I wish I would have used it.’ He used this as a threat; never used it against anyone. ‘I wish I would have. I was gonna, but didn’t.’ That’s what I am getting from this. He used it as a threat, didn’t actually use it or killed anyone with it. It was just for him to feel like a big man.

“I think this was here before him even, and he found it. That’s all I am getting. I am tuned into him right now.”

“I can’t see having a gun in here when this building was used as a church,” Paul said.

“Does anybody belong to this gun?” Paul asked aloud. “Do you know anything about this gun?”

There was no reply.

“This looks like it’s over a hundred years old,” Joanna said.

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Paul said.

“Have you seen this gun before today?” Paul asked aloud.

“Did you do all the renovation work to this place?” Joanna asked.

No reply.

Peter set up an E. Probe in the living room under the watchful eye of the surveillance camera. (The E. Probe device is used to detect electrical energy in either very close proximity or by touch, depending on the sensitivity setting.) Then he placed his digital voice recorder on the table.

The team prepared to leave the house. Everyone filed out the back door and Peter, being the last one to leave, called out, “We are going.” Then he pulled the door closed.

We headed out, past a massive gnarled tree, to the ancient barn. Peter pulled the door open and chained it, and we all stepped inside. The main floor was divided into several areas. There were stairs to a root cellar and a fixed ladder leading to a large loft above. The team fanned out, taking photos while exploring the barn.

It was interesting to note that we captured the meowing of a cat, and although we were in a country setting in an old barn, where one would expect to hear a cat, no living cat was seen. However, Peter discovered the mummified remains of a cat in the cellar.

At that point, the team headed off to tour another location that was brought to our attention as possibly being haunted. Peter had arranged an introductory tour that would take us away from this location for about an hour. We were confident that our equipment left operating in the cottage would capture any activity in our short absence.

Meanwhile back in the cottage …

[From the surveillance camera microphone, the floor starts to creak in the living room as if someone is walking and shifting their weight. Then the E. Probe activates several times. The camera captures the little red indicator light come on and the alarm sound, but no other activity.

Peter’s digital recorder picks up movement and a scratching sound, a light tap near the recorder, then a strange sound as if someone’s stomach is growling.

After a few minutes more, there is movement near the recorder, and sounds as though someone is going through Peter’s equipment case.]

During our absence from the building, there was an enormous amount of unexplainable sounds recorded within the house: banging, walking, the sound of fabric rustling, someone coughing and sneezing, and a very distinct sound of someone taking off either boots or heavy shoes and dropping them to the floor one at a time.

The team returned and entered the house.

Peter, Joanna, Victoria, and Marilyn headed upstairs. Paul and I remained on the main floor and checked the cameras.

Paul discovered none of his LED flashlights were working, and when we changed the batteries they still would not work. I loaded the same batteries into my flashlight and they worked fine.

“But they were just working before we left,” Paul stated.

[Peter’s digital camera is still recording in the living room and captures two knocking sounds and something shifting near the recorder. The E. Probe activates, but the alarm is muted and neither Paul nor I notice the flashing red light on the device.]

Peter came down and saw the E. Probe light and told us of the alarm activation.

“I’ve never seen flashlights go like that before,” Paul said, a little upset.

“I know,” I agreed.

[Peter’s digital camera records a loud male voice, either clearing his throat or saying “uh-huh.”]

Peter and Paul entered the northwest room. Paul called out, “Hello?”

No response.

“Do you want us to leave?” Paul asked aloud.

[A desperate-sounding female voice says, “Yes.”]

“Is there someone here with the surname Smith?” Peter asked.

There appeared that a female responded “Yes,” but due to the sound of the refrigerator motor starting at that exact same moment it was unclear.

Peter asked, “Do you want us to leave?”

[EVP response: “Hell ya!”]

We moved through the house and everyone ended up on the second floor.

“The place seems so quiet,” Peter stated as we all sat around in the upper floor bedroom.

[The recorder captures the sound of someone walking on hardwood, even though the floors are covered in wall-to-wall carpet on this level. A total of six footfalls are recorded.]

The sound of a female moaning was heard by everyone in the room. Unnerved, the team moved out to check the floor. Nothing was found.

There were loud knocks coming from the main floor, which were heard by Peter, Joanna, and Marilyn. Paul moved to the top of the stairs and confirmed he heard someone walking down on the first floor.

Joanna moved to the top of the stairs. “Who’s with you?” she asked.

No reply came.

[As the team starts to move back downstairs to the main floor, the main-floor camera captures a male voice saying, “Win.”] Upon later analysis of this EVP we were at a loss as to what this may have meant. It would seem that a lot of what we recorded was not for our benefit, but rather communication between the spirits themselves.

Paul walked over to the wall switch and turned on the large overhead light. This must have upset something within the house.

[It is followed by an immediate EVP on the main-floor camera of a male voice saying, “Damn it, I’ll get you.”]

Peter and Paul moved farther into the living room and spoke to one another.

[The digital recorder captures unknown talking over their voices, the content impossible to understand.]

Paul looked over at me. “I just heard a voice.”

“What did it say?”

“I don’t know.”

On review it seemed that it was an agreement with what Peter was saying. It was simply a voice of an unknown male saying, “Yeah.”

“We should head out to the barn and do some work out there,” I told the team.

[As we prepare to head out, the surveillance system captures a male voice saying, “Yeah, Miriam,” and the sound of walking.] The camera footage clearly showed the team standing near the kitchen entrance, none of us were moving.

We headed out into the frigid night air and made the short trek to the barn. I pulled the door open and latched the chain to an old, rusted piece of metal nailed to the side of the barn. The team entered, split up, and investigated the barn.

Paul immediately headed up to the loft to investigate and take photos. He also wanted to make sure that it was safe for the rest of the team.

From the doorway, Marilyn captured a photo of what seems to be a person near the loft ladder. Looking at the image on the camera view finder, it seemed quite convincing, however upon later review of this photo on the computer system it turned out to be nothing.

Several of us moved down into the cellar for a quick look.

[Peter captures a whisper on his digital recorder. Standing quietly in the stable area, he also records a shuffling sound and a male saying, “Break it up here,” or “Bring it up here.” Then wood creaking as something in the room moves.]

We didn’t know about the EVPs captured in the barn yet, so we felt that it was very quiet and, factoring in the cold, we headed back to the house.

We all re-entered the cottage.

I wanted to attempt communication using the Spirit Box again, so we set up in the small room on the north side of the main floor.

I set the box to scan all FM frequencies for 100 millisecond per channel.

Peter jumped right in and started asking questions: “Is Isabella is here?”

Spirit Box: There was a “yes” in reply.

Peter called out, “Is Isabella here? Can I speak with Isabella?”

Spirit Box — a female voice, breathily: “Yes.”

“Isabella?”

Spirit Box: “Yes.”

“May I ask you about the gun?”

Spirit Box — faintly: “Yes.”

“You’re not afraid of the gun, are you?” Peter continued.

Spirit Box: No response.

“Does the gun belong to an owner of this house that came after you?”

Spirit Box: “Yes.”

“Did it belong to a ‘Smith’?”

Spirit Box: “Yes.”

“What was his first name?”

Spirit Box: “Luke.”

[Peter records a husky-sounding male chuckle.]

“Isabella, are you still with us?” Peter asked.

Spirit Box: No reply.

Spirit Box — a male voice: “We’re alone.”

Paul was by the door to the main room, looking out. He said, “I just saw a shadow on the stairs!”

We all, except Peter, rushed to investigate.

I had shut off the Spirit Box but was still carrying it. I led the team up the stairs, and as I came to the mid-landing, the Spirit Box screamed to life, startling us all. I shut it off again and we proceeded up.

It was interesting to later watch the events unfold from the surveillance camera footage: the main-floor camera captures a shadow moving up the stairs very quickly, Paul calls out he sees the shadow on the stairs, and we all follow it.

[The second-floor camera at that same moment is enveloped ever-so-briefly by a blackness, as if something is blocking its lens.]

Then we arrived on the floor.

After we searched the upper floor and found nothing, there was a flash on the camera, then an older male talking. We could not make out what he said.

[A female clears her throat but says nothing.]

There were several more flashes and then Joanna saw two orbs move across the screen. These were not dust, as they were large and yellow in color.

Paul called out, “What’s your name?”

[EVP on surveillance camera: “Bill.”]

“I feel something,” Paul stated.

Peter continued asking questions on the main floor, now using his own Spirit Box.

“Should I go up there?” Peter asked.

Spirit Box — a male voice: “Uh-uh.”

“Isabella, are you still here with me?” Peter asked.

Spirit Box: A slight sound possibly indicated a “yes.”

“Is Willie buried at the Hillcrest cemetery?” Peter asked.

Spirit Box: No reply.

We all returned to the main-floor studio.

[The upstairs camera records walking on the upper floor.]

There was an audible bang. Peter stopped and looked around. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah,” Paul said.

“None of us were moving,” I reported from my position at the door to the room.

“What is your first name?” I asked.

[Male voice: “First name.”

Pause.

A male voice saying, “Leave us, leave us,” is recorded on the audio surveillance.]

“What can you tell us about this Smith person?”

[“Bad,” says an EVP of a female voice. It is followed directly by a male EVP saying, “Good.”]

After the events, we felt it was time for a break to regroup and collect our thoughts. We left the equipment operating while the team headed out to get some food.

The house went quiet.

But when we returned could hear from outside the E. Probe alarm sounding.

Peter entered first to check his equipment; all seemed to be in order.

The house had grown quiet and the team started to pack up.

[Peter’s digital recorder captures one last EVP, that of a woman: “Leave mah home.”]

Conclusions:

Although I was convinced that this location was extremely active, it wasn’t until several days after our investigation when I started to receive analysis reports from the team that I was sure. Here’s what we concluded from our first investigation.

 After reviewing the data collected from the surveillance cameras, digital voice recorders and Spirit Box session, it became abundantly clear that we were onto a major haunted location — there seemed to be many spirits there.

 Not only had we recorded many high-quality EVPs — including a male voice in an astonishing EVP saying, “Miriam, they are all alive” — we also captured footage of a “shadow person” that had moved from the living room to the second floor.

 Most of the team experienced disembodied voices.

I did a quick comparison of haunts I had been involved in over the last thirty-five years. It had been more than ten years since I had seen this level of activity on a first visit — not since the investigations reported in my first book, Overshadows. The prospect was incalculable. This was only the beginning, however, and none of us could imagine what lay ahead.