AN INVESTIGATION: THE BARNSTABLE HOUSE
Originally published in Cape Cod Today
The New England Society of Paranormal Investigators (http://www.nespi.net/) was recently offered the opportunity to investigate one of the top two allegedly haunted houses on Cape Cod. Built in Scituate in the early 1700s it boasts its share of tragic events. The most famous story is of a sea Captain, his wife and young daughter Lucy. This 3 story colonial house was moved to its present site and located on top of a well over a running stream in the basement. While the Captain was away at sea on one of his voyages, little Lucy somehow managed to drown in the well. The mother, overcome with grief, retired to the third floor bedroom where she remained in seclusion until she perished from starvation. Other reports include the "Captain" accompanying the small children of lodgers safely down the steep staircase and all the doors and windows mysteriously locking and unlocking simultaneously.
NESPI investigators entered the house, at 6:00PM on June 9th, and were given a tour of the structure's interior to aid in determining the location of the command center which consists of several computers, a large screen, high definition monitor and a four channel digital video recorder as well as the placement of 3 stationary, wireless microphones and 4 hard-wire, infra-red cameras. Other equipment included a new SONY HDR-SR1 High Definition 1080i Camcorder, Ratek non-contact thermometers and an electromagnetic field detector.
Accompanying NESPI was film producer and director, Kristin Alexander, who resides on the Cape and is currently shooting a documentary on the group and had her high tech camera and gear along as well.
Equipment set-up was completed around 8:00 PM and, as is common practice, we all headed out to get a bite to eat and formulate a plan on how to best utilize our time, and gear to catch and document any paranormal activity we might encounter. It should be noted that while we had access to 95 percent of the building there was one room on the third floor which was padlocked shut. This is the room we believe where the Captain's wife went to end her life. We were able to slide a microphone into the room through an opening between the door and the door jamb. Later on, this would prove to be a smart move.
Upon our return at 9:10 PM while firing up the cameras and microphones Investigator Al Bagnardi was searching the first floor hallway for the light switch controlling the front porch exterior light as it was throwing too much light into the semi-darkened hall. The first floor microphone picked up Al and Kristin discussing the fact that they couldn't locate any switches and our first EVP (electronic voice phenomena) of the evening was caught with a ticked-off woman stating "There are switches!" Of course none of us heard this voice at the time and it only became evident when playing back the recorder. In fact, it was captured on another recorder as well which is quite a rarity. Besides the stationary microphones each team carries another as well. EVPs are the captured voices of disembodied spirits or entities which are only audible to the human ear on the playback of the recorder.
Once all the lights were extinguished we moved into the conference room as a group, lit a few candles and began using the "English" technique for getting spirits to communicate. This involves everybody relaxing and clearing their minds. Then, very politely, asking for certain spirits to speak and communicate with us. NESPI Investigator, and President, Mike Astin asked for the spirit of Captain Grey to speak to us or give us a sign of his presence when a 15 pound whale weathervane, used to decorate the room, crashed to the floor. This was a little startling and disconcerting. A moment later NESPI Investigator and Deputy Sheriff Bill Martin was examining the overturned weathervane. He noted that the weathervane was solidly attached to a piece of pipe which, in turn, was screwed into a very heavy, possibly brass or cast iron, base. Putting it right side up and jabbing at it with his finger, he could not get it to fall over. It just rocked a little, back and forth, and became upright. We concluded it took considerable foot pounds of pressure to knock over the weathervane and promptly thanked the Captain for his participation! Later, in speaking to people familiar with the weathervane said this has not happened in the past, however, a very well known and respected local attorney, who wishes to remain anonymous, related a story or watching a newspaper travel unaided from one end of the conference table to the other. The weathervane incident was caught on camera and can be viewed here along with the EVP of the switches mentioned earlier.
It was now time to break up into 2 smaller groups. Obviously, we can cover more ground in less time and we have found that the smaller the group the more apt a spirit or entity is to make its presence known, but that's not always the case and by no means a rule. Armed with cameras and digital recorders, Al and I went upstairs to an office area on the second floor while Mike Medeiros, Bill Martin and Mike Astin started investigating the first floor rooms. Aside from taking EMF (electromagnetic field) and temperature readings, this is where we really push hard for EVPs. We are always suspicious of high EMF readings in older structures as there are usually wires running every which way behind the walls and many have the metal shield which tends to spike the EMF readings. Depending on the size of the location being investigated, each team will spend a minimum of 25 minutes to a maximum of 60 minutes in a given area. Simple questions are asked in hopes that a spirit will answer such as "Can you make your presence known?", "What is your name?", "How long have you been here?". During an investigation where there is known to be a hostile or malevolent presence, questions are aimed at uncovering the reason for the spirits actions so an attempt can be made to appease it. Many times this can be successfully accomplished. However, if it is determined that the causing of the disturbance is pleasurable to the entity or spirit this causes a serious problem with no real long lasting remedy. House exorcisms and blessings or smudgings can offer temporary relief but in the large majority of cases do not last and the disturbance usually returns within four to six months with a vengeance.
There are many stories with regard to this particular house we are investigating of people being frightened, doors slamming, apparitions on the stairs, fax machines going off for no reason, newspapers sliding across tables, etc... But we found nothing of a menacing or threatening nature. The rest of the investigation proceeded in the same manner and proved this to be the case as no one had any ominous feelings or incidents.
In reviewing the footage on the digital video recorder, the camera located in the basement did record the movement of a rope as if jerked from the bottom. This happened almost every two hours to the minute. When we returned to present the evidence we had captured, we went into the basement and it was shown that rope actually hangs down into a small pool of water managed by a sump pump which kicks on about every two hours and causes the rope to move. As professional skeptics we need to take a very empirical approach and make every attempt to debunk all the collected evidence. The only piece of evidence captured by the cameras was the weathervane falling over in response to the request of making your presence known. However, we were far more successful in the EVP department.
All the EVPs and the weathervane video are available for your perusal at http://www.nespi.net/. I would suggest you wear headphones as some EVPs are easier to hear and understand than others. If you have any questions regarding our investigation or the techniques we use please either comment here or contact me at Dave@nespi.net.