GHPR CASEFILES
Like I said in my last signal post, until I can find a more time and data efficient method for hosting all of our investigatory content, said content will be shared as blog posts. It doesn’t really fit in with my overall vision for what I intend the site to be (so this will not be like this for too long of a time — expect a change to come after the release of Signal & Noise), but I do like that (for the time being at least) it makes it a lot more accessible. Less clicking means more reading, right?
So, without much further ado, let me introduce you to the first entry in this new series!
Welcome, dear readers, to the Hall House. This particular home has been occupied by at least two families (both of which stayed for multiple decades in their respective time in the house). We have almost no information from the homes original owners concerning any supposed hauntings, but that doesn’t really matter too much. As any seasoned paranormal researcher will tell you, not every past or future occupant of a haunted house experiences something. The vast majority of the time, actually, it would seem that it’s more the family that’s haunted than the home itself.
The occupant at the time (who had moved out just prior to our arrival) had reported disembodied voices and a general sense of some other unseen presence. After their departure, as the home was being prepped to be put on the market, the team in charge of renovating the property had begun to have their own encounters. Strange issues with the plumbing, shadow figures, (again) disembodied voices, and a generally unpleasant feeling seemed to haunt them and their attempts to prepare the house for sale.
To put their (and the most recent owners) minds at ease, we were called upon to investigate the home.
What follows is our full post-investigation report. Links to relevant media are posted in the footnotes.
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First off, I want to apologize for taking so long to get this finished.
This has been mostly typed up and mostly complete in my google drive for a little while, time just got away from me, and I had forgotten to send this along.
We had an eventful night, all things considered. Although I have only two pieces of evidence that are worth sharing (which I’ll get to later), we all had encounters of some kind or another.
Before I get started, I want to say that, unlike how you may see in some paranormal programs on television, we do not do anything in any way that could be considered disrespectful. We do not practice provocation (e.g., cussing, trying to enrage, or yelling at anything present) and we make sure to approach this as friends, making sure to introduce ourselves and explain to any entity that may be there why we are there and who’s given us permission to be there. We want to make sure that we promote as friendly and welcoming an environment as possible. If there is a paranormal realm and if it is populated by deceased humans, we want to do everything we can to promote communication and ensure that they feel respected and comfortable.
Leading up to the investigation, I was informed by Tom of some of the location’s issues: unexplainable issues with the home’s plumbing system, sightings of shadow figures, lights turning on and off, and a general sense of an unknown (and possibly irritated) presence.
Upon arriving, we immediately chose the front room (where a counter or bookshelf had been moved in such a way that it could be easily used as table) as our “home base” of sorts. This would be where our gear was stored and where we would return to regroup following stints of exploration. Without knowing what each room was originally used for (as the location was in the middle of renovation to some degree), it’s somewhat difficult to describe where each of these encounters occurred. Thus, I’ll label them to attempt to avoid confusion; all viewpoints I refer to (left and right side) are from the vantage point of the front door, looking into the house.
On the bottom floor:
• The Front Room (the room you enter into)
• Room A (the area on the left, just past the door)
• The Dining room (the area, including the kitchen, including the back door)
• Room B (the large room on the right with the mirror wall)
On the top floor:
• The Upper Hallway (self explanatory)
• Room C (the furthest right bedroom with the attached bathroom)
• Room D (the middle bedroom)
• Room E (the furthest left bedroom with the couch)
Starting in Room A, I briefly detailed the history of the home (and the unexplained goings on) to the rest of the group.
We split into two groups: one that wanted to explore outside and was, strangely, drawn to the tree in the back yard and a second that was preparing the gear for use.
For this particular investigation we were equipped with:
• An SB-7 Spirit Box.
This is a modified radio that quickly skims through all nearby radio frequencies. Using this, one occasionally picks up supposed EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) in real time across the many skipped radio stations. Although you’ll occasionally hear a momentary snippet of a song or a radio host, what you mainly hear is static. Within this static, across the skipping stations, you occasionally hear intelligible voices that seem to respond to questions asked much like a normal EVP captured on a tape recorder. This is a device that is much more easily explained through demonstration than through writing, so I apologize if the use and purpose of the tool is a little hard to grasp through this. I mainly use it in a style referred to as the Estes Method, in which the user wears studio isolation headphones and blindfold to remove any external stimulation and allow them to more easily hear and correctly interpret anything heard. I don’t currently have a way to record the live feed directly from the device, so in the recordings you only hear the user say what they’ve heard and us reacting to it. I promise you, though, there’s nothing questionable about the device or how it works, it’s just hard to record and to quantify data we capture through it.
• A K-II meter.
This is an EMF detector. When something emitting a high enough electromagnetic field comes within range (or in contact with it) it lights up to varying degrees (depending on the intensity of the field).
• A dictation style mini-cassette recorder.
This is a normal cassette recorder that has been modified, with headphones attached, to allow the user to hear what it records as it records it.
• An IR trap camera.
A motion sensitive camera, not unlike your average hunting camera, that takes photos when something moves in front of it within a few hundred feet.
It’s important to note that we were all, as we were using the above equipment, recording audio on our phones and, in some cases, taking photos or videos as we were investigating.
After the gear had been prepared, two others and I began a quick preliminary sweep of the property.
Using the K-II meter, our goal was to find the baseline reading for the house and attempt to locate any areas with high (and explainable) EMF activity (such as a still active router, a utility box, etc.) but found that the house was fairly stable and, as such, the meter didn’t really react.
I’m hesitant to include feelings in a findings document (because they vary from person to person and are so easily influenced) but we were immediately drawn to Room E and to the upper hallway.
As the investigation began, we, again, split into two groups.
The first group consisted of myself and members Robbie, Chris, and Nick. The two remaining members (Blake and Mike) remained downstairs, while my group was in the upper hallway.
In the upper hallway, while I began an Estes Method session (in which I listened to the spirit box while the others asked questions), Robbie and Chris were using the K-II meter in an attempt to validate the presence of a possible answering entity.
Within the session, as soon as I put the headphones on, I heard, “Mike! He’s a good guy!” from the voice of a young man.
Although this obviously has no connection to the property, it was of immediate note. This is something that is very frequently said about Mike by us (and in the exact manner and tone that the voice in the session used). I won’t mention each specific occurrence (as it’s far too many to count) but we would be very frequently, each one of us, addressed by name through the spirit box. This isn’t a super common thing to happen, so it immediately made us think that we were going to have an interesting night.
As this session continued, Nick was pacing back and forth. It should be noted that he only wears boots and is the only member of the group that doesn’t wear sneakers. An older male voice came through that said, “Stop it! The one with the boots!”, as if he was worried that Nick might damage the floors. At the same time, the K-II meter lit up. Robbie asked if, if someone was there, they could walk up and touch the meter to make it light up more. In an apparent response, the meter lit up to the highest degree possible (signifying a very strong electromagnetic field had just come in contact with it) and it remained illuminated for a few seconds.
Just about every time that something would happen, it should be noted, the K-II meter would light up when it was in the vicinity of said encounter.
While this first session was ongoing, Mike was near the front door.
He described seeing (and it should be noted that this was during the day so there’s no chance that a flashlight of any type was being employed) some kind of light reflected in the glass. He described it as being orb-like in shape and that it seemed to shimmer.
He walked up to the glass and looked out and around himself, trying to find an explanation for the light. Finding none, he stood there for a moment, looking into the front yard when, in the reflection on the glass, he saw a figure pass behind him. He had assumed it was Blake (who was downstairs with him) so he called out to him. Blake was seated, the entire time this occurred, in Room B.
With the rest of us upstairs, we can’t explain his sighting. It remains the most profound encounter (in my opinion) of the night).
Following this session, we moved on and began to do normal EVP work (in which, while multiple recorders are rolling, we ask questions and then review the file to see if any voices were captured that we didn’t hear in the moment). Myself, Chris, and Nick moved down to Room B for said EVP session. While this was taking place, Blake, Mike, and Robbie were outside looking at the tree and wondering if Mike could have seen someone walk through the backyard from where he was standing. Again, we don’t believe he could have and have found no good explanation for his sighting.
This is one of many moments that I wish we had more cameras.
Part way through the session, I instructed Chris to conduct a spirit box session as I asked questions and recorded audio on my phone. Chris, during this, heard a young female voice say, “Dad? Is that you, dad?” and “Are you there dad?”. After trying to get the voice to speak more and elaborate we moved on. I asked, “Is there something we should be paying attention to outside?” and we captured the only EVP of the night (which was only captured on one of the three recorders present in the room). We believe it’s the voice of a young woman, seemingly coming from the kitchen, saying “Yeah”. According to Chris, it’s the same woman’s voice that he heard through the sprit box.
A clipped version of this recording will be sent along with this writeup; you may need to where headphones and raise the volume quite a bit, but it’s fairly clear once you hear it.
For a while, nothing happened.
We moved around, tried different combinations of tools, spent time sitting around and waiting to see if anything would happen, but it stayed quiet for a little while.
Robbie was in the middle room upstairs (Room D) doing a solo EVP session, when he claimed to have seen a shadow move from the closet and quickly leave through the bedroom door. The trap cam was pointed down the hallway, but we didn’t catch it.
Mike, during this, was listening to the spirit box in Room E when the older male voice returned, asking repeatedly, “Do you have permission?”, “Are you allowed?”, and at one point saying, “You are found.”
Chris and I, around this time in the night and on separate occasions (probably about five or six minutes apart as we walked down the upper hallway into Room E) saw a small ball of neon green or yellow light quickly move across the floor ahead of us. Again, the trap cam didn’t catch it. We attempted to recreate it (believing it may possibly be a reflection of the light on the smoke detector), but we were unable to. No one else saw the same light.
As we were discussing the possible source of the light in the doorway of Room E, however, (while Mike was standing in front of the closet listening to the spirit box) the trap cam went off.
In the bottom left corner, across three photos, you can make out something that appears near Mike, moves quickly behind and away from him, and then leaves the frame in the final photo. Whatever it is blocks the view of the closet in the second photo and is best seen in that one.
I can’t say definitively what it is (or whether it’s paranormal; I’m a stickler about not jumping to conclusions and trying to find rational explanations first which, usually, can be found), but it’s the first time the trap camera has ever (in any investigation) actually captured something that I couldn’t explain.
Following Mike’s sudden detection of activity on the spirit box, we all moved into Room E and began the final session of the night (in which most of us would take turns listening to the spirit box).
It was a fairly good session and seemed to answer questions fairly intelligently, but never in such a way as to determine anything about whoever or whatever seemed to be communicating with us. Throughout this session, the only voice present was that of the older male. As we continued on, asking questions about the house, about the owners, about whoever it was that was communicating with us, the older male seemed to grow irritated with us, culminating in him telling Nick to commit suicide.
We ended the session and were regrouping, trying to find a way to calm or appease whoever we made contact with when we were forced to call the investigation to an early end (it’s worth noting, though, that despite ending the session we left the spirit box on by mistake; Mike, as we left, clearly heard repeated three times “Sorry”).
All in all, it was a surprisingly active night (one of the most active I’ve ever had on an investigation) and one that definitely leads me to believe that something’s going on on the property.
Although we didn’t capture (or even encounter) any lights turning on or off by themselves, we were able to corroborate sightings of shadow figures (and, seemingly, the presence of an unknown, possibly irritated, entity) and had a multitude of other encounters that definitely seem to indicate that there is the presence of something paranormal in the home.
What or who exactly is present is hard to say, though I’m inclined to suggest that it’s a more protective entity (the main voice heard, that of the older man) than a harmful one (and had simply grown frustrated with our line of questioning). I can’t say much as to the origins of or possible intentions of the other two voices, but, for one reason or another, they didn’t seem half as interested in us as we were in them.
I’m very interested to see if there’s any possible recognition of the recorded voice (that of the woman)
***
Click here for the trap cam photos!
Thanks for reading! I apologize for missing my normal schedule this week.
I was in the middle of writing this one (and a handful of other future posts) when I accidentally unplugged my computer.
But hey, it’s up now!
Stay weird!
-Scott
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