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.
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.