The Ghost in My House Has Been Identified; Not What We Expected

Not related to the haunting, just a picture of my cat getting into trouble last year.

It may have taken a few weeks, but we finally found out exactly who, or what, has been haunting our house. As it turns out, the entity is not human at all, but a cat. Yes, that’s right: we have ourselves a ghost cat. Now, this may come as a surprise to those who are not heavily involved with the paranormal, but let me tell you, I really was not that shocked when my mom told me what she saw one afternoon. Then when I saw it along with a friend the next day, I was completely sold. So anyway, yes, cats can have spirits. We actually have one at the Proprietary House. It came out one time during a séance, when people sitting around the table felt a cat curling up against their legs, winding in and out, one at a time. It also shows up every now and then, as one of our trustees, who has a severe allergy to cats, begins to cough and sneeze out of nowhere, before the fit goes away as quickly as it came.

Is There a Ghost in My House?

I’m no stranger to the paranormal. I consider myself a veteran now, who can withstand even the most strangest of occurrences, but that happened to go out the window and unnerve me when something happened a lot closer to home, and by that, I mean my home.

Last Thursday, it was seven in the morning and my mom was downstairs in the kitchen. I was still sleeping and my dad was in the shower, and my mom had just finished plating a tray of cookies that she wanted to wrap up with colored string. She went into the closet to get it, being very careful as to not let our cat Lawrence see it, since he loves string and would be jumping all over the place. However, he was busy staring out the window at the birds and squirrels in the living room, which you can see into from the kitchen, though there is a half-wall divider that separates the two rooms. She wrapped up the tray and put it to the side, leaving the leftover string sitting crumpled up on the counter. She had to go upstairs to do something, so knowing that Lawrence did not see the string come out, and even if he did, he would not be able to see up onto the counter to get it, she left the string and went upstairs.

Ghost Hunting is Contagious…and Addicting

Just a quick little post before I head to class tonight…

Two weeks ago, I conducted three programs on the paranormal at MTRS. The first was on vampires, witches, werewolves, and zombies, while the second was on the Jersey Devil, Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, and the Mothman. The third one, though, was a little bit closer to my heart, as it was about the haunted history of New Jersey, and my normal haunt (no pun intended), the Proprietary House. During the hour, I spoke to students in grades ranging from fifth through eighth, and there were even a few high schoolers there as well. I told them of some of the techniques we use, and what can be taken as evidence of a haunting, such as an EVP or pictures containing orbs. One of the students, a fifth grader, was (or at least he is now) convinced that his house is haunted, as it is more than 100 years old and he said that the family knows of at least one person dying there.

Haunted History 2011: Identifying a Spirit and an EVP Recording

Haunted History 2011 continues with yet more stories from the Royal Governor’s Mansion and Proprietary House in Perth Amboy. I have just been contacted by Steve, who tells me that a lot has happened just in the past week alone, and since my last article. I have to meet with him for a committee meeting tomorrow night at the House, so hopefully I will have more to report on, and maybe we can hang around for another investigation. I imagine the paranormal activity will only accelerate as we near closer to Halloween and All Soul’s Day, where spiritual energy is at its height.

A view into the kitchen area, where Tom captured his EVP below.

Identification of a Spirit

You are now all well aware of one of our resident ghosts, a shadow person named Byron. He was first named by a psychic while she was standing at the base of the first floor steps two years ago, the place where he is normally seen, although he tends to drift around when Steve is there. Then, a year later, another psychic, with no connection to the previous one, confirmed that is what his name was. Well, now we have a little bit more information on him that we were able to dig up. One of the house’s owners in the 1800′s, after Governor William Franklin, was Mathias Bruen, a self-made millionaire merchant who chose Perth Amboy, of all places, as his home. It was during his residency that the hotel was added, and the first major restorations were begun. It is also rumored that the first ghost sightings occurred with these changes. We have known for some time now that Bruen, in fact, owned one slave while living at the mansion, and we feared that Byron was him, but it seems that Byron was actually a mulatto servant at the home, amongst many others, and not a slave. He might have even been the head one, but we cannot be sure.

Either way, every bit of information helps, as maybe it will now be possible to communicate with him, other than him just showing up randomly and startling us. There are many people who believe that knowing a spirit’s name gives you power over them, but I believe that does not apply to spirits or ghosts, only demons. We did not want to know his name and background so badly to have control, we just wanted to be able to communicate with him better, and who knows, maybe help him cross over. Jeff also added this bleak assessment regarding Byron, “Maybe he walks up and down the steps all the time because the people he worked for didn’t give him keys to the rooms, and so he wanders up and down because he has no place to go.” This would be an example of what we investigators call a residual effect, in which a menial task from the person’s life continues over and over again in death.

An EVP in the Kitchen

This next recording comes from Tom Gillissie, who was one of our visitors on October 14th, for Bruce Tango’s event. When we allowed people to roam around the house to take pictures and recordings, he was able to capture this. If you listen closely, right after the person he was with says, “Damn”, and right before he himself says, “I think there’s too many people”, you can clearly hear a voice say what sounds like, “I like it. Like it.” This is one of the clearest ones I have ever heard, and as usual, they did not hear it in person, but only after Tom got home and listened to his recordings. It does not sound like a human voice, and actually ends at the same time that Tom began to talk, ruling him out as the cause for the noise. Many times, just general sounds, breathing, or background noises can sound like a voice during the excitement of trying to find an EVP, but this is definitely a voice, and it does sound other worldly.

I sure hope that if indeed the voice did say that he liked something, he was referring to the countless hours of restoration work we have been doing at the house. I know we can’t please all the people all the time, but if we pleased the dead with our painting, that’s good enough for me!

Haunted History 2011: Producer Michael Beckner Encounters Ghost of Civil War Soldier

I first came into contact with producer and screenwriter Michael Frost Beckner a few months ago, due to his work with the highly anticipated upcoming mini-series To Appomattox. Having written for their unofficial fan blog since August now, and knowing that MFB, as we call him, is very hands on, I thought I would ask him if he had any history-related ghost stories, during my quest to bring you some of the best from filmmakers and historians around the country. He agreed, and actually sent me two, the first of which occurred in historic Lexington, Virginia while on a research trip. It entails a very creepy encounter with what he believes was the ghost of a Civil War soldier. The second story involves the war as well, but has a slightly different twist. I hope you will enjoy these!

MFB doing some exploring and researching for "To Appomattox".

First story—Lexington, Virginia

In 2005, my wife accompanied me on a research trip for To Appomattox.  We came into Lexington late one night (about 10pm) without reservations.  No hotels available.  We called all the Bed and Breakfasts…nothing in town.  We found one way up on the Lee Highway.  They had been under construction and weren’t reopening for another week, but I explained our predicament and they said they would give us a room for the night. We drove from town up that highway.  My wife and I have been on windy, dark roads all over the world many times.  Something about this one spooked her.  Before we were even to this place, she said she refused to get out of the car, that something “bad” awaited us.  I gently told her it was late, there was nowhere else, we were tired, the couple who owned the place were elderly and were opening their home to us late at night…and were waiting.

We arrived up the long dirt driveway (it still needed to be re-paved) and she refused to get out of the car.  We argued for a moment. The couple was waiting on the porch and my wife wouldn’t budge.  Embarrassed, I got out of the car, walked to the porch and lied that on the way my wife and begun throwing up and might have a stomach flu and we didn’t want to bring germs into their home.  They didn’t really believe me, but that was that. Got back in the car.  My wife said, “Get out of here as fast as you can.  This is a bad place.”  (By the way, that was a sweet, old couple and I still feel bad about lying; Anne wasn’t talking about them–just to be straight.)

The rental car was an Infiniti and had a rear-viewing camera with a monitor in the dash.  A little more common now, but back then that was the first I’d driven with one of those and I was into the technology of it all.  So I put the car in reverse and didn’t look over my shoulder, opting to use the cool camera/monitor.  Anne did look over her shoulder though. Suddenly, I saw a figure (in the monitor) loom up directly behind me.  It was a bearded man in Civil War officer’s uniform and slouch hat. Reenactor, I thought at the second it happened. Anne, looking back through rear window glass, shouted, “Stop! You’ll hit him!” I was already slamming my brake. I hit him.  I must have.  Yet he remained as though embedded in the bumper—I was still looking at the display, Anne still over her shoulder, then he “became” exhaust and dissolved. It was exhaust.  I distinctly remember knowing, somehow, in the moment I saw him that he wasn’t “solid.” The exhaust dissipated in wisps.

Anne asked, “Did you see him? Was it someone?”

I answered, ”Where was his hand?”

She said, “Holding the top of his sword.”

He had been—his hand resting on the guard of his sword in his scabbard.  When I asked Anne to describe him she gave me the same details: beard, long Civil War coat with two rows of buttons, and a “cowboy” hat. A few years later, I remembered the event and went online to see if anyone else had seen him.  There are LOTS of reports of a Confederate officer/spirit who harasses cars along that road.

Second story—Richmond, Virginia

Here’s another one…We were in Richmond (again, another research trip).  Staying at small “historic” hotel—I don’t remember the name.  The rooms were unchanged since the 1800′s.  Bedroom, big living room, high ceiling, original/period furniture.  Anne woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me “someone was in the room” with us.  I looked around both rooms.  No one there.  I didn’t feel anything creepy.  She said, there had been a woman who woke her up.  I told her she had a nightmare, and went back to bed.

Shortly after, about 3am, about to fall back asleep, as we were lying there we began to hear children laughing and chattering and playing outside.  It went on for about 30 minutes.  It was very irritating. The next morning I complained to the management.  They swore that there was no group of children staying there and that no one else had heard anything—the proprietors stay there as well.  We checked around and, sure enough there were no children staying there; only two other couples, and I asked them—they didn’t hear any children.

A day later, at another hotel, I found an old Readers’ Digest magazine.  There was an article in it about the place where we had stayed.  Don’t remember the details, as in names, but it told the story of a young Richmond woman (with a “wild” reputation) who had a love affair with a Civil War officer that was somewhat scandalous—they would race horses up and down the streets.  They got married the day before he went to the front.  Lee gave her permission to visit him, but battle intervened.  By the time she got to the front to see her new husband…he was dead.

The woman who’s husband died returned to Richmond and locked herself in her room for a year. Her house was the hotel we had stayed in–though not the room she’d locked herself in. When she ended her mourning, she converted the home into a school for war orphans.

I would like to thank Michael for taking the time to share these two fascinating stories with me. As we get closer and closer to Halloween, sometimes we do not realize how often history and the paranormal intersect with each other.

Haunted History: Shadowy Figures at the Proprietary House

Ah, another day, another ghost hunt!

Last night, I finally got a chance to meet up with my friend who sent me these two ghostly images from the Gettysburg battlefield a few weeks ago, Tommy Zilinski, a fifteen year old Civil War reenactor from Bridgewater. While we are pretty much able to prove that one of them is a tree, the other image still holds up as a legitimate possibility. Regardless of what you see there, I invited him and his friends to come with me on a ghost hunt at my normal stomping grounds at the Proprietary House. He came with his mother and his friend Jack, who brought his mother as well, and she would end up taking two of the best pictures I have ever seen of a potential spirit inside the house. The funny this is, I had just finished telling them that I had personally never captured anything in an image there, but usually get decent EVP recordings on my digital camera and tape recorder. Sure enough, within minutes, Terry Perhach snapped these two shots, which show some kind of shadowy figure, in a different location each time. This is the first image, which you can see a large shadow on the right side of the doorway:

The shadow here does not have a clear and defined shape, but what was so strange is that just seconds before she knelt down and took this picture, I saw a shadow move in the hallway out of the corner of my eye. I did not even have the chance to say anything, when Terry, with a surprised tone in her voice, said that something was wrong with her image. To fully explain the scenario, we were in the basement servant’s quarters, with her camera aimed into the Tea Room across the hallway. Her lens was on zoom, meaning that it is showing past the doorway of the room we were actually in. Our shadows were visible on the walls of the doorway of the quarters, but not the Tea Room. From where we were standing, after close examination after this and the next picture were taken, it would have been physically impossible for our shadows to have reached so far as to appear on the wall across the hallway. This next picture, though, shows a pretty clear image of what looks like a human figure, that has now changed position:

This almost looks like a headless apparition, as you can see shoulders, a body, and where someone’s arms would be resting if they were standing at attention. The outline then continues down a little bit to the floor, which would be the legs. Once again, there was no way for this image to appear, and she snapped several more pictures from the same spot, and this shadow would never appear again in any form. There have been many reports, including instances that I have actually witnessed myself, of shadows moving in the hallway. Their other location is the staircase leading up to the attic, and according to a psychic at the house last year, one of the figure’s names is Byron (take that for what it’s worth). As for my pictures, many of them yielded orbs, which many paranormal researchers are still on the fence about. Are they the spectral remnants of a spirit manifestation, or just dust in the air or on the lens? We will never be sure, but one thing is definite, they never appear in two straight pictures. Between the four of us last night, we had three cameras, and every time someone got an orb, the others would take pictures of the same spot and it could never be repeated. This was one of mine:

Like I have said earlier and many times over on this blog, I am not trying to sell you anything. You either believe in spirits or you do not. However, unless someone can provide me with a clear explanation for those two shadow figures, then I will go with my gut and say that we captured something paranormal. For the people I brought with me last night, it was their first time on a real ghost hunt (Tommy’s pictures from Gettysburg were an accident), and they are very lucky to have witnessed as much as they did. I have conducted all-nighters at this same house for ten hours or more that have yielded not even so much as a knock on the wall. Terry’s son Jack, who was also with us, felt something touch his hair as we were walking up the steps of the staircase, and while Terry and I were outside taking pictures, the group inside heard footsteps. This would constitute a very active [and ultra-rare] night at the Proprietary House. Ghosts are not parlor tricks—if it was so easy to capture them, we would have pictures like this every time.

Ghosts of Gettysburg: What Do You See?

A friend of mine and fellow Civil War enthusiast, Tommy Zilinski, just send me a few pictures he snapped Friday at the Triangular Field of Gettysburg, which is located directly behind the Devil’s Den portion of the battlefield, if you are looking from Little Round Top. These two pictures were taken from a slightly different location, and each shows a distinct figure in the zoomed in portion below. I have done a lot of work with the paranormal in the last two years (if you are not familiar with my investigations or credibility, please click the “Paranormal” tab at the top of the page) and while I acknowledge that there is a shadowy figure of some sort there, I am not sure if I can call it a ghost.

In this picture below, it looks like a figure of a man, kind of hunched over and leaning on what looks like a cane, or possibly a rifle, since it could be a Civil War soldier:

However, in this picture, that same figure now takes the shape of a small pine tree. I do not know what kinds of trees inhabit the area, so I am throwing that out there for comparison. Tommy, and others on my Facebook who were the first to see this picture, also see other figures and shapes in both of these pictures. Please take a good look, because you may be able to spot something we don’t:

Once again, I am not confirming or denying that these are ghosts. It is up for you to be the judge. For additional work I have done in and around Gettysburg, please click here.

A Conversation with Governor William Franklin…from Beyond the Grave?

All paranormal researchers have their way of doing things; some are conventional, others are not. The way I use was stumbled upon by accident last year, when we sat in the tea room of the Proprietary House with a lit candle. Whenever we asked questions or asked any spirits present to give us a sign of their existence, the candle would flicker, sometimes to the point of pulsating uncontrollably, making us think that someone (or something) was trying to blow it out. We have developed a simple code, which we announce to any ghosts that are with us. If the answer to a question is yes, make the flame move, if no, then do not do anything. We wait no more than ten seconds for a response, before moving on to another question.

Time and time again, we have tried to figure out if there is any draft in the room or any air current whatsoever that could cause this flame to move on its own. After months now, we have concluded that there is nothing that could interfere with it. Sometimes, we will hold sessions and absolutely nothing will happen. It also does not matter how many people are in the room—it has worked with amounts of people ranging from one to six. We have even tried to cause the flames to move ourselves, from our seats, which is a table located about 10-15 feet away, by blowing and waving our hands, and still, the flame will not flicker.

And so last night was another one of these occasions. I was all alone with my friend Dan Breen, who has been with us quite a few times there. We sat in total darkness in the tea room, except for the candle. We asked simple questions for about twenty minutes, and the flame did not move once. Finally we hit pay dirt. Below is the transcript of what happened:

DB: Are you a woman?

Candle: [Nothing]

DB: Are you a man?

Candle: [Flicker]

GC: Are you an old man?

Candle: [Tiny Flicker]

GC: Are you a young man?

Candle: [Nothing]

GC: Are you a middle-aged man?

Candle: [Flicker]

GC: Are you married?

Candle: [Flicker]

GC: Do you have any children?

Candle: [Flicker]

GC: Do you have three children?

Candle: [Nothing]

GC: Do you have two children?

Candle: [Nothing]

GC: You you have one child?

Candle: [Flicker]

GC: What is your name? Is it Ben?

Candle: [Nothing]

GC: Is it Byron?

Candle: [Nothing]

GC: Is it Andrew?

Candle: [Nothing]

The three names we asked about are names of spirits we know are in the house, based on psychics who have communicated with them. Because this spirit was not one of them, I decided to just throw the name out there of our humble former Royal Governor William Franklin, who lived in the house from 1774-1776, before he was arrested.

GC: Is your name William?

Candle: [Flicker]

GC: Are you William Franklin?

Candle: [Flicker]

GC: Are you the governor?

Candle: [Flicker]

GC: Is your wife’s name Josephine?

Candle: [Nothing]

GC: Is your wife’s name Elizabeth?

Candle: [Pulsating Flicker]

By asking a trick question, this rules out other entities in the room who may be trying to pass for another ghost. This is why objects such as Ouija boards are so dangerous, because you think you may be talking to your dead grandfather, when you are really communicating with an evil spirit.

GC: Is your son’s name William Temple?

Candle: [Flicker]

GC: Are you angry with us?

Candle: [Pulsating Flicker]

GC: Do you want us to leave?

Candle: [Nothing]

GC: So you want us to stay?

Candle: [Flicker]

At first, we were scared when it responded to us asking if he was angry with us. The one thing you do not want on a paranormal investigation is an angry spirit, but then it also responded to us asking if he wanted us to stay. The only reason for this is that maybe he had a message to give us. We tried to figure out what the message was, and I recorded some audio later on, but unless an EVP shows on the tape, we were unable to decipher what he was telling us, through only Yes and No answers.

GC: Do you have a message for us?

Candle: [Pulsating Flicker]

GC: I am going to turn on my recorder. If you have a message, please say it now.

[Waits two minutes]

GC: Are you angry with the Americans for arresting you?

Candle: [Flicker]

GC: Do you love King George III?

Candle: [Pulsating Flicker]

GC: Are you sitting at the table where the candle is?

Candle: [Pulsating Flicker]

After we asked that last question, the flame continued to violently flicker, and would not calm down enough to ask more questions. We definitely felt something in the room with us, and while skeptics will regard this evidence as inconclusive, to be there was to witness something very strange. There was no delay between our questions and the responses. This only lasted a few minutes, but it is possible that we were communicating with the house’s lone celebrity, William Franklin. Of course we cannot be absolutely sure, that what we saw was not just coincidence, but if you have done this form of questioning enough times like I have, you just know deep down when it is real, and when a spirit is just making the flame flicker to cause a stir.

Please visit the new and improved official website for the Proprietary House for the complete history of the house.

Spy House Journal Part IV: A Face in the Window and an Upcoming Lecture

Though no one is allowed inside the Spy House (now Bayshore Waterfront Park) for anything paranormal, Jeff Huber and I will be giving a lecture on New Jersey’s Role in the American Revolution there, this coming Thursday, January 27 at 6 pm. I am still waiting to hear from my superiors on just what exactly we are allowed to talk about regarding the house’s history, but my boss assures me that we are allowed to answer any questions guests pose. This may be your chance to get inside one of the most alluring houses in the state. Bruce Tango (Dave’s father) , the paranormal investigator who has appeared numerous times on Ghost Hunters will be there as well, and he volunteered to answer any ghost-related questions—we are just not sure if we can fit it in the allotted time and if it will be allowed.

Anyway, back in May, Jeff had taken a picture of one of the windows in the Spy House (I think the one below is in the front) and I had noticed a face staring at me from the glass. Though I was certain at what I saw, I wanted to go a few months without looking at it to see if it was just my mind playing tricks on me, or if it was really there. So two nights ago, I brought the picture up and my eyes were drawn to it again. It is diagrammed below:

To me, at least, I see a clearly defined face with eyes, lips, a hairline, and a hint of a nose and chin. I have shown this to a lot of people and it seems that half see it, and the other half does not. I have sent the photo to Bruce Tango so hopefully he will be able to give me an explanation. It could be pixels or just the way the light was hitting the window, but whatever it is, there is definitely a face there, the only issue is whether it is other-worldly or not. If anyone has any kind of software that can enhance it further and clarify it, please feel free to try it out and send it back to me, so we can either prove or disprove if this is a face. I really hope I will be able to show this at the lecture, but it is not my decision to make.

—–

Lecture Information

History Alive: New Jersey During the American Revolution

Why was the Battle of Monmouth one of the most important battles of the American Revolution? Why was Benjamin Franklin’s son, William arrested? What weapons and tactics did the troops use? Presenters from the historic Proprietary House will answer these questions and much more. The presentation will feature instructors dressed in period battle uniforms complete with weapons. Find out why New Jersey was such an important part of the Revolution. Don’t just Google it! Come see for yourself.

One 1-Hr Session $5.00 Per Person
Bayshore Waterfront Park Activity Center
Thu, Jan 27 6:00-7:00 PM………………………………XBW11A

Please call 732-842-4000 (EXT  1) to reserve your spot!

Proprietary House Investigation IV: A Most Active Night

Date: December 21-22, 2010

Investigators: Greg Caggiano, Jeff Huber, Reynaldo Arroyo, Brett Bodner, Dan Breen, Alex Vazquez, Brian Otto, and Brad Schultz

Report:

For the first time in probably more than fifty years, guests of the Royal Governor’s Mansion in Perth Amboy, New Jersey spent the night at one of the most haunted places in the state. But unlike the guests who frequented the house in the 1800′s when Matthias Bruen turned the former government residence into a hotel, there would be no sleeping on this night. For some time I had wanted to conduct a night-long investigation of the house, taking us through and past the witching hour of 3am, and last night, this would finally come to fruition.

This would be the largest investigation I would ever conduct, as Jeff Huber and I were joined by John Smith and Reynaldo Arroyo, who have years of paranormal investigating experience on their hands, as well as my friends Brett Bodner, Dan Breen and Alex Vazquez, the latter of whom has been helping us carry out the extensive renovations on the house, and Jeff’s friends who drove all the way from Pennsylvania to join us, Brian Otto and Brad Schultz. I arrived there with Brett and Dan at about 8:30pm, while there were others already in the house. The nine of us combined had video and still cameras, as well as recording devices, and we would experience a plethora of occurrences leading up to the three o’clock hour—ironically, not much would happen after that time.

Since we spent so many hours and there were so many people in the house, it will be impossible for me to recount everything we found. I expect this to go through several edits before all is said and done, as we remember all that happened to us in the late night hours of December 21, and pre-dawn hours of December 22. Initially, I thought that nine people was too much—when you have that many people walking around the house, more noises occur and it is hard to filter out what is paranormal and what is human, but everyone was very professional the entire night, including first-timers Alex, Brian, and Brad. I was actually impressed at everyone’s composure because after a certain incident that occurred just after 1am that sent a few people packing home, it was hard to stay calm.

Jeff, Brett, Dan and I were in the office in the basement checking something on the computer while John and Alex were on the first floor. At this point, Reynaldo had already left, taking his equipment with him. Brian and Brad were parked on the third floor landing, up on the staircase. As I stood talking with Jeff, I hear, “Greg, you have to come up here!” so we all bolted up the crammed and creaky staircase to see what was going on. Alex told me that Brian and Brad had heard a scream coming from inside one of the rooms. At first I thought it was a joke—an EVP is rare enough, let alone an actual disembodied voice. We prayed that they had it on camera, and sure enough, when they played back the recording, there it was: the sound of a woman screaming. It lasted only a few seconds, but it was as clear as day, an unmistakable noise coming from one of the office rooms.

We ruled out the possibility that it was anything they had done in their movements, or someone yelling outside. It was distant enough to be right where they said it was coming from. The strange thing is that they actually heard it in person, because many times ghostly voices and noises are only picked up by equipment. At this present time, Brian is working on transferring it to the computer so that you can listen to it. (This is my recording of the recording.) We also have another one of a moan, coming later in the morning, but from the same spot. Please keep checking back. (EDIT: Here is Brian’s original recording. Please note that mine is a recording of Brad’s recording of the original one.)

The second of our recordings was taken by me, when I was alone on the staircase with Brett. This was about an hour after the scream, and we were standing in the same spot, just down from the landing, next to an antique chair. We were asking questions when I decided to test out the audio/visual recording ability on my new digital camera. About eight seconds after I turned it on, you can hear a whisper say, “Hey”. We did not hear this in person, and it was clear when I was listening to the video the first time. Please click here to listen/watch.

Aside from those, we heard a lot of thuds when no one was moving. Having nine people did have some benefits, as we were able to finally place people on every floor and the staircase, all sitting in silence before asking questions. We picked up a lot of noises confirmed by more than one party, and were able to deem what was caused by our own movements.

There was also some activity with a candle in the tea room. John and I have spent some late nights there doing the restoration work, and each time before we head home, we light one candle and place it on the far table, back and to the left. It is perfectly still when lit, as there is no draft in the room. When we ask questions, the flame starts to bounce—not just a flicker, but an almost pulsating movement. Last night there was some activity but not as much as when John and I try it. This is a video of us in the tea room, studying the flame and checking out orbs in pictures on Brad’s camera. I did not notice any EVP’s present in this video, but if you listen close enough, maybe you will find something I missed.

There was also a moment for about five minutes where we all smelled smoke, the kind of smell that would occur after a candle has been blown out. This was on the first floor and the only candle we ever had lit that night was in the tea room, in the basement. It had been blown out more than a half hour prior and at no other time that we know of has smoke traveled all the way upstairs. We even went down to check it out, going back to where the candle was, and we smelled nothing, yet a return trip upstairs yielded the smell. I’m still open to the possibility that it was our candle, but it just did not seem likely.

Finally, we took some pictures of the outside of the house and upon comparing, the curtains seem to be ruffled in one of the windows in my picture, but not on Brian’s. These were taken at the same time, and roughly the same angle. Brad also has a picture on his camera of a shadowy figure peering out of the window, a head and shoulders is clearly visible. I will add that to this report as soon as he sends it to me.

Overall, this was a fun night rife with activity. It beats any other experience I have ever had there, and stunned everyone with the capture of a scream. It appears we have discovered a new hot spot, on the stairs, as the majority of our findings occurred when we had investigators on the steps. Just another crazy night in the annals of Proprietary House lore!