WALKING AMONGST THE SHADOWS
In honor of Halloween, I will share some of our most spine-tingling moments of our years of investigating. I often tell people that paranormal investigations are not typically heart-stopping events, but we have seen some really creepy things throughout the years. These are some of those experiences.
Barnstable Gaol - Barnstable, Massachusetts
The oldest wooden jail in the United States is also one of the spookiest locations that we've ever stepped foot in. It is also a location that we experienced an inhuman entity - one thankfully was removed.
During an investigation in June 2011, we had seen an extraordinary amount of shadow figures throughout the night. One in particular was beyond creepy. I had seen movement where the old cells were and focused on a very tall and slender shadow figure - I estimated the size at over seven feet! It moved slowly through a cell and through a wall. I followed its movement around another cell and along a wall and towards Deb, an investigator with us that night. I saw this figure approach her and stand over her menacingly. I then saw it lean over her and move its head towards her. She freaked out as she stated that she was able to see a face and as it bent towards her, it opened it's mouth in an unnatural way. After she dropped a number of four letter words, she screamed at the figure to leave. Surprisingly, it did. So why would this figure approach her menacingly? I think in order to create fear - a negative emotion that a malevolent entity can harness in order to manipulate the environment to its liking, whether to attack someone in the room or to scare us out of the space.
That same night, we all saw a shadow figure by a doorway to the front room. But this shadow figure was not standing and walking, it was crawling on the floor in unnatural movements. It was moving slow and menacing and was moving its head looking around the room. Honestly, that was by far the creepiest shadow figure that I had ever seen in my life. More than likely, I grabbed a hold of the crucifix I have around my neck. Surprisingly, this figure also listened to an order to leave the space. After a forceful demand to leave, the figure slowly backed out of the room. again crawling.
Fast forward a decade and I returned to the old jail. As soon as I entered the space, I heard something scurry up the wall that was about three feet to my right. I heard what sounded like very sharp nails scurry up the wall. At this point, the lights were on in the jail and I saw that there was nothing to be seen to make this noise. This scurrying sound was meant to be heard and I believe that it was a message to me that whatever evil lurked in this location still resided within the walls of the old jail. I heard afterwards that they were able to remove it since that point.
Private Investigation
As this was a private investigation, I will not divulge the location out of respect for privacy. We had a private investigation in late September, 2008. The location was very active and we were a bit overwhelmed by the level of activity during the night. As we entered our third hour at this location, we heard what sounded like a woman screaming right in front of us. I stopped in my tracks and turned to one of our former investigators with a shocked look on my face. I could not see my expression, but I bet you that I had the same panicked look on my face that I saw on our team member.
It was one of only two times that I can remember that I was actually too stunned to continue. We stood motionless for what seemed like an eternity as we tried to talk ourselves into thinking we somehow imagined the horrific sound that we heard. After a few minutes, I took a few cautious steps towards where we heard the sound come from. We ended up investigating the space - however, there is no surprise that I had a vivid dream after this investigation. No doubt, a dream visitation. I do not like to take "work" home with me.
Houghton Mansion - North Adams, Massachusetts
One of the scariest moments for me at Houghton Mansion was when a guest was overtaken by a spirit who had possible ill intent. This happened in the an area of the third floor that had banks of lockers. During my time there, it became evident that a darker spirit had been pulled into this space possibly through some irresponsible actions of some guests at other events. There had been Satanists who rented the mansion before this experience - I cannot say for certain if the two events are related, but I have my suspicions.
This experience has been detailed in my book "Walking Amongst the Shadows: Houghton Mansion". I'll offer a brief highlight of what happened. I was sitting in a chair that was in a long and narrow space. As I sat in the chair, something did not seem right. My instincts were telling me that something was very wrong with the situation. I had felt something pushing down on my shoulder and someone took a photograph that showed three figures towering over me. I left the chair and walked towards the center of the room.
A guest wanted to experience this for herself and told me that she wanted to sit in the chair. I strongly recommended that she should not sit in that space and told her that something was not right. She insisted that she would sit up there and marched to the chair and sat down. I checked in on her every few minutes for about one-half hour. When I turned on the spirit box, the spirit box started to curse out people in the space. At this point I asked the guest in the chair if she was okay and I did not hear a response or see her move. I figured that she did not hear me. I again asked her if she was okay, again, she did not respond. I was slightly concerned and walked up the three steps and got closer to her to ask her if she was okay. Again, she did not move or respond. I turned on my flashlight and saw that her face looked different, she did not look like herself. She had a look of sheer panic in her face and she was trying to talk to me.
I shouted for someone to turn off the spirit box and it was turned off. I heard her very quietly say to me "I can't move". I called for help and we helped her out of the chair and down the three steps. As we removed her from the space, she was able to talk more and more. She was highly distressed over the situation and was very ill from her experience. I do believe that a malevolent spirit or entity had entered this woman - it was certainly the scariest moment for me as I saw how a paranormal entity can impact the living.
