Governor William Franklin and the Price of Dissent

Dissent: often scorned, sometimes praised, always misunderstood. The American Civil War is sometimes called the Second American Revolution or the Second War of Independence, yet the American Revolution is never referred to as our country’s first Civil War. And why not? One could argue that the situations are exactly the same. In both cases, a percentage of the population wanted to remove themselves from a ruler they perceived as tyrannical. Don’t think Abraham Lincoln was a tyrant? Well, there were plenty of people that didn’t think King George III was either.

The Copperhead Chronicles: What is the Price of Dissent?

Dissent: often scorned, sometimes praised, always misunderstood. The American Civil War is sometimes called the Second American Revolution or the Second War of Independence, yet the American Revolution is never referred to as our country’s first Civil War. And why not? One could argue that the situation is exactly the same, and that is the people wanting to remove themselves from a ruler they deemed as tyrannical. Don’t think Abraham Lincoln was a tyrant? Well, there were plenty of people that didn’t think King George III was either.

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.