[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.
3
Second Investigation
December
Peter, Paul, and I arrived early and met with the property owner to go over some of the early history of the house and the property.
As we stood in the kitchen talking, I looked out the back window and could see that a storm was brewing: the wind was now carrying leaves, dirt, and debris, and the sky was charcoal. I noticed right away that inside the house was virtually silent, probably attributed to the heavy construction of the old place with its eighteen-inch-thick walls. Paul showed the owner a few photos that we had taken in the barn on our last visit.
[Peter’s digital voice recorder captures a gruff male voice saying, “Me, have a see.”]
The owner departed, wishing us luck in our search. The three of us went out to the vehicle to bring in the equipment; Peter laid his digital recorder down in a small alcove at the base of the stairs. [As we exit, the recorder captures a click and subtle movements.] We set up our surveillance equipment as we had during our previous visit and went outside to wait for the rest of the team to arrive.
Victoria and her twin sister, Stephanie, who was joining us for the night, arrived and we all entered the house together.
The team split up and Peter set up his E. Probes as Victoria took her sister upstairs for a tour of the house. Paul and I took random photos.
The girls came back down to the main floor. “I got a different feeling up there this time. A very comforting feeling, but that little room at the top of the stairs, which was fine last time, was very uncomfortable,” Victoria reported.
“Which room did you go into first?” Peter asked.
“The big one at the back, where the camera is.”
Paul started to lay talcum powder in strategic locations around the house. He placed a large black garbage bag down on the floor and generously shook out the powder to cover the bag in the hopes that we would get an imprint of a footprint in the powder.
Peter’s E. Probe went off, and as he reset it he explained how it worked to Victoria and Stephanie.
[Peter’s digital recorder captures a female sighing.]
We decided to go outside and tour the exterior of the house and examine the front porch. Peter placed his digital recorder on a chair in the northeast room near the window and we all headed outside.
[After a few minutes of silence there are sounds of movement caught on the recorder and then the persistent squeaking like that of small wheels.
The sounds of movement are very close to the camera — rustling sounds — then a male voice calling, “Jimmy.”]
The E. Probe went off and Peter went back in to check it.
As we were standing outside, Paul saw a black shadow pass the upper window facing the driveway. I immediately thought it might be Peter, but at that exact moment Peter pulled the back door closed. Paul suggested that the camera set up on the second floor may have captured something. After watching the second-floor windows for a
