Arrival

PIM was already at Vicky’s as we had done an investigation the previous night and had done a public information session at her shop during the day on Saturday where we answered questions about paranormal investigations and presented some of the evidence we had caught at Vicky’s during our numerous investigations.  Steve had arrived later in the afternoon and Karen had left so we got our equipment set up and headed to the Koffee Kup for some dinner. Along with us were Al and Eric, two friends of Vicky’s that had come up from IL for the event that we were having.

After dinner, Al and Eric were asked to join our investigation for a while as a number of PIM members were unable to make this investigation and so we were a little short-handed.

PIM began setting up equipment throughout the location.  The equipment used was:

EMF detectors:  Natural and standard Tri-field meters, KII meter

Temperature detectors:  Pyrometer, Kestrel weather station

Digital cameras:  Sony Cybershot DSC-P52 3.2 megapixel camera w/ Hoya R72 infrared pass-through filter, Argus 5 megapixel full-spectrum camera, Nikon D50 camera w/18-55 mm and 70-300 mm lenses, and 720 nm 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 950nm IR filters and Sony IR Illuminator. Sony mini-DV Handycam, 2 Sony HVL-IRM IR lights

Digital Recorders:  H2 voice recorder, Olympus WS300M, 2 Sony ICD P620, Sony ICD P520, Olympus WS210S, Sony ICD-UX70

Flashlights:  UV flashlights, IR flashlights

Other Equipment:  Two-way radios, Geiger counter, air ion counter, IR spotlight and IR flood light, 2 battery packs

After returning to the shop, Vicky and Phil headed home for a while with Vicky planning to return at around 10:30 pm.

Investigation

We began in one group, and headed down into the basement and into the furniture room.  When all spread out in the furniture room and conducted an EVP session. During the session a few knocks and tapping noises were heard but they did not seem to coordinate with the questions or our asking for a sign.  Nothing more happened and we decided to head up to the second floor to investigate up there for a while.

Once we all got upstairs, we again spread out with Chris towards the front of the building, Steve and Noah in the center aisle about 15 ft from each other, and Al and Eric sitting in the back where some chairs are set up.  We again conducted an EVP session. At one point both Al and Eric thought they felt the floor vibrating by them but it was determined it was probably caused by the goings on at the building next door, which shares a wall with the shop.  Al and Eric also thought that they heard thumps coming from the first floor a two separate occasions. Noah thought he also heard a thump coming from the first floor on one of those occasions. Al also though he heard the inside door leading to the front show room rattled while we were upstairs but no one else heard that.  During the EVP session, a metallic noise was heard in response to a question that was determined to come from a ladder that was lying on the floor near Al and Eric. Neither of them had moved and did not know what had caused the noise. Nothing else of note occurred while we were on the second floor, so we headed downstairs to see if there was any evidence of the thumping that was heard.  Upon reaching the first floor nothing was found out of place.

We returned to the first floor at around 9 pm.  At this time Vicky returned to the shop. It was decided to head downstairs to the basement with everyone and spread out again.  Steve had brought a portable music player with him and so it was decided to play music from the late 1800’s in the furniture room and see if this could stir up any activity.  PIM had used this technique before with good results. Eric, Vicky, and Steve were in the furniture room and Al, Noah, and Chris were in the back basement area. Before playing the music, Noah wanted to head to the very back room with Al as there is believed to be an angry spirit that resides there.  Al stated when he went to open the door that he got a strong feeling that he shouldn’t. He eventually did open the door and Noah and Al stood there for a while trying to communicate but nothing happened. At this time Steve started playing the music and it was stated that the atmosphere of the back basement area seemed to lighten.  Many efforts were made by all present to communicate but unfortunately no activity manifested. It was decided to return to the main floor for a break.

 

During this break Jennifer, a friend of Vicky’s, arrived to take part in the investigation.  Also during this time Al and Eric decided to head home as they both had a distance to drive. We decided to head to the basement to once again try to capture some activity.  Unfortunately the remainder of the evening was relatively quiet. Jennifer left at around 1 am, and Vicky and PIM went to bed shortly thereafter. Nothing of note occurred during the night either, with Steve and Noah sleeping in the furniture room and Chris sleeping upstairs, and Vicky in her usual place in the toy area.

Evidence

Holiday room – 1:34 am

Two possible responses captured

Furniture room – 9:14 pm

Voice captured on top of Noah’s

Furniture room – 9:15 pm

The sound of doors closing captured

Furniture room – 9:17 pm

Woman’s voice captured

Furniture – 9:24 pm

Voice after knocking sound captured

Backroom – 10:25 pm

Voice captured saying “Get us out”

Furniture room – 12:35 am

Woman’s voice captured

Backroom – 9:21 pm

Voice captured saying “What’s going on?”

Conclusion

After reviewing all the video and audio evidence from this investigation we unfortunately did not come up with any evidence.  The previous evening we had done an investigation and had gotten both video and audio evidence and perhaps the spirits were not up for two investigations in a row.  We did have some personal experiences that evening with both ourselves and the guests we had with us investigating. Even though we were not able to catch any evidence during this investigation, the experiences that we all had attest to the activity that is present at Elsing’s Second Hand Shop.

PIM would like to again thank Vicky and Phil for their hospitality and willingness to let us try just about anything during our investigations.  PIM would also like to thank Al, Eric, and Jennifer to taking part in the investigation, as it was great to have them there to participate.

PIM looks forward to its next investigation at Elsing’s Second Hand Shop as you never know what you might catch while investigating there.

View All Cases