Arrival
PIM met at Elsing’s around 6:00 pm. After introductions, all parties went to the Koffee Kup for dinner.
After returning from dinner, PIM setup equipment throughout the location. The equipment used was:
EMF detectors: Natural and Standard Tri-field meters, Cell-sensor, KII meter
Temperature detectors: Pyrometer, Kestrel Weather Station
Digital cameras: Sony Cybershot DSC-P52 3.2 megapixel camera w/Hoya R72 infrared filter, Canon Powershot A5 zoom camera, GE 7.0 megapixel digital camera, Argus 5 megapixel full spectrum digital camera, Digital Concepts full spectrum 4.1 megapixel camera, Nikon D50 camera w/18-55 mm and 70-300 mm lenses, and 720nm IR filter, Canon Powershot SX10IS 10 megapixel camera
Video cameras: Sony DCR-SR80 hard drive camcorder w/Opteka R72 IR filter, Sony DCR-TRV350 camcorder, Sony DCR-TRV110 camcorder, Sony DCR-TRV280 camcorder w/720nm and 950 nm IR filters and Sony IR Illuminator, Sony DCR-HC28 w/ external IR Illuminator, Panasonic 500 mini DV camcorder, Sony 800 mini DV Handycam, 2 Sony HVL-IRM IR lights
Digital recorders: H2 voice recorder, Olympus PC3100 voice recorder, Olympus WS300M, 2 Sony ICD P620, Sony ICD P520, Olympus WS-210S digital voice recorder, Sony IC digital voice recorder ICD-UX70
Flashlights: UV flashlights, IR Flashlights, Windup LED flashlight
Other Equipment: Two-way radios, Geiger counter, Air Ion Counter, IR spot light and IR flood light, 2 battery packs
Investigation
When everyone went to dinner three voice recorders were left running: one on the main floor, one in the stairs leading to the basement, and one in the furniture room. The group returned around 7:30 pm and started placing equipment for the investigation. Steve placed a stationary camera in the Bookroom hallway – pointing towards the cubby under the stairs. Michael set one stationary camera up in the furniture room facing the doorway by the stairs and another camera in the pizza room facing the doorway by the fuse boxes. Chris set up a stationary camera on the main floor sitting on the 3rd shelf shooting down the middle aisle of the tool room. Normally the main floor was used as a meeting site and base camp and usually was not investigated due to lack of activity. Prompting by some of the PIM members resulted in the placement of a camera and voice recorder in this location on the main floor to see what we might catch. Later we will be kicking ourselves for not putting more cameras in this location.
A voice recorder was placed with each camera, or in the room that the camera was in, and Noah and Steve also had handheld video cameras that were carried with them to document what was occurring during the active parts of the investigation (EVP sessions, moving from location to location, etc.).
EMF, radiation, temperature, and humidity levels were then tested throughout the shop with no abnormal readings noted.
Before beginning, Steve went around with his digital camera fitted with the IR filter and took pictures of all the areas in the shop. These pictures would be very useful later on.
Just before beginning the investigation the electricity was turned off at the shop by killing the power at the main box in the basement. This was done to limit the amount of EMF in the building as there are high levels in certain areas.
HPI had done an experiment at an investigation the previous weekend at the shop where they played some period music to see if this would interest any entities that were at the shop. They had played music from the 1920’s but it was suggested by Karen that we should try playing some music from the 19th century so that is what we did. We began the investigation as one group on the main floor. We spread out among the toy and tool rooms and played some music from the 19th century. Michael sensed that there were some spirits coming into the room, most of whom he had never sensed before at the shop. No activity was noticed during this event but some strange EVPs were discovered upon reviewing the evidence (audio CD).
This experiment was repeated in the furniture room and the back storage area by the fuse boxes. No physical evidence was obtained during that time, but Michael stated that Simon, the angry spirit that is believed to stay in the back storage areas of the basement, seemed to “mellow out” when the music was playing but returned to his angry self once the music stopped.
After these experiments everyone met on the main floor and broke into two groups. Noah, Shaunda and Michael went downstairs to the basement while Steve, Chris, Ann and Vicky headed to the 2nd floor.
While in the basement, Michael detected a young boy, maybe 12 or 13 years old, who seemed to be interested in the group. An EVP session was conducted in an attempt to communicate with this entity. There were several knocks and bumps recorded that seemed to be in response to questions asked and at one point Noah swore that someone was “shuffling down the center aisle toward him.” He described the noise like someone was wearing only socks on their feet and was sliding on the wood floor down the aisle. Unfortunately this was not picked up on either of the cameras that were running in the room at the time or any of the voice recorders.
The group on the 2nd floor did not report any activity while they were investigating.
Everyone regrouped on the main floor after about a half hour of investigating and the groups then switched locations to investigate.
On the 2nd floor Michael sensed a number of spirits, most of whom he has sensed before in this location. He did sense a new spirit that stayed by the stairs and he felt that anyone going by the stairs should be careful since he sensed that this spirit either had pushed someone down the stairs when he was alive or has done so as a ghost. While on the 2nd floor, Michael was in the way back by the window that the police chief jumped out of and he stated that he could hear thumps from the main floor. Shaunda and Noah were by the stairs and Shaunda stated that she could also hear the thumps but Noah could not. Noah radioed the group in the basement to determine if they had come upstairs for some reason or if they were moving around a lot in the basement. The group stated that they had been stationary for some time and had not gone upstairs recently. It was decided to quickly head down to the main floor and see if we could catch anything.
Upon reaching the main floor, Noah and Michael quickly headed to the tool area since that is where Michael felt the thumps were coming from. Each aisle was checked and in the third aisle in the middle of the floor was a brass horse. The horse was standing up on its stand as if someone had placed it there in the middle of the aisle. This was both video recorded and photographed at the time and copies are in the evidence submitted to Vicky.
Noah is the one that discovered the horse and he was calling for Michael to come and see it. Michael had gone down the first aisle and as he made his way over he went past the doorway that leads to the bathroom and as he went past he saw a shadow move from right to left across the doorway. Nothing was captured on film, but Noah did feel like something touched his arm when he went to investigate the shadow.
Not knowing where this horse had come from the pictures that Steve had taken in the beginning of the evening were reviewed after the investigation was completed and the horse was located on the second shelf of aisle in which it was found. It is our opinion that the chance of the horse being knocked off the shelf and landing where it was found upright is very small. Also, it was noted that there was nothing in the aisle earlier in the evening when the music was being played and Michael would check the aisle when he visited the restroom and he had not seen anything in the aisle either. The video from the camera placed on the 3rd shelf recording down the middle aisle of the tool room yielded no further evidence. Tests were conducted to determine if someone could have snuck past the camera and plant the horse there. Although possible, it was very difficult to do and the chances that it could have been done without making any noise that the camera would pick up are slim to none.
We believe that this was a physical manipulation of the horse by some unknown entity. This belief was strengthened when the group that had been in the basement mentioned that they had brought down some trigger objects with them to see if they could get an entity to move one of them. One of the objects was a horse and they had been asking someone to move the horse. It seems that the entity complied, just not the horse they were referring to. This information was found out after the fact and Noah and the group with him did not know of this at the time the horse was discovered.
Even more impressive is the fact that some of the original activity that Vicky had reported was the placement of items from the tool room aisles into the middle of the floors. She would lock up the shop at night and the aisles would be clear. Upon arriving back at the shop in the morning, there would be items placed in the middle of the aisle. This fact also strengthens our belief that this was a genuine paranormal event. PIM would recommend that any other teams investigating Elsing’s Second Hand Shop should place cameras in all aisles if possible in order to have the best chance of capturing some convincing evidence.
After this occurred it was decided to try and communicate with whatever had moved the horse. Steve, Ann, Chris, and Vicky headed back downstairs and Michael, Noah, and Shaunda remained on the main floor focusing on the tool area and the storage rooms by the bathroom. Michael believed that whatever had moved the horse resided in an “L” shaped room that had an old walk-in freezer in the back. This room was full of items for the shop and had not been investigated previously. When Michael did his walkthrough he sensed a negative presence emanating from this room and so before starting the investigation we had opened the door to this room. It may have been that action that resulted in the activity but it is impossible to know for certain.
The investigation of the “L” shaped room did not yield any results and Michael felt that the spirit was afraid and was not around.
It was then decided to try and leave the spirit alone in hopes it would return so a group EVP session was done in the furniture room with everyone present. No activity was detected during this session so it was decided to try and reenact the events that had occurred just before the horse was moved to see if we could get something else moved or the horse moved itself.
A camera was pointed at the horse and tape placed on either side of it so that if it moved at all the camera would catch it and we would notice it after the fact using the tape as a reference. Steve, Ann, Chris, and Vicky went down to the basement taking a Mickey Mouse object for the trigger object this time along with the original horse they had used before. Noah, Michael, and Shaunda returned to the 2nd floor. Both teams were instructed to go to the exact locations they had been in before and conduct an investigation.
No further noises were heard by anyone and after about 30 minutes of investigating Noah, Michael, and Shaunda returned to the main floor to see if anything new had been moved or if the horse had moved again. Nothing was found out of place and the horse was in the same location that it had been left in.
At this point it was getting late and Vicky stated she was heading to bed. Michael headed to a hotel for the night and Ann, Shaunda, and Chris stayed on the main floor in the front room. Steve and Noah slept in the furniture room on either side of the doorway. Steve left his stationary camera running that was shooting down the Bookroom hallway toward the cubby under the stairs and placed a voice recorder with it. About 30 minutes after shutting off the lights a loud pop was heard by Noah in the basement. It sounded like it came from about 4 ft. high in the air and located close to the doorway of the furniture room. This noise was caught by Steve’s audio recorder and is included with the evidence submitted to Vicky.
Although strange, this noise did sound electric in nature and even though Noah got up to investigate if any thing was out of place or amiss, nothing was found. It is hard to say that this is paranormal as we did have the electricity off for most of the night, but it is a strange noise that has not been experienced in the past.
Nothing else of note occurred while everyone was sleeping. We awoke at around 9 am, packed up our stuff, and headed home.
Evidence
Conclusion
The biggest piece of evidence from this investigation was the moving of the brass horse. Unfortunately it was not documented as it was moved, but we believe that it is most likely paranormal in nature. The fact that someone could have moved it is very unlikely in our eyes since everyone there were people of integrity and the chance that anyone could have snuck past the camera is very unlikely. All future investigations done by PIM at Elsing’s will include cameras in all three aisles of the tool room.
Other evidence was captured during this investigation. Multiple EVPs were captured over the course of the night, although none of them stating clear words or phrases. All EVPs have been submitted to Vicky and PIM invites you to determine for yourself what the EVPs are saying. Video and photographic evidence of the horse has also been submitted.
Ann and Shaunda from HPI did not report any evidence found on their recording devices.
Overall this was a great investigation once again. PIM would like to thank Vicky and Phil for letting us investigate their shop again and for being so hospitable.
