Investigation
We arrived at Vicky’s store at around 11 pm after some car troubles delayed us by about 3 hours. We immediately began unpacking our equipment and setting up so as to have be able to get investigating as soon as possible. In attendance were Noah and Jaeson from PIM, Vicky, and her friend and her friend’s daughter.
We had the following equipment with us: Sony DCR-80 HD camcorder with SuperNightShot and external IR light, Sony Hi-8 camera with NightShot, a 2.1 mega pixel digital camera, a 35 mm camera, a Tri-field 3-axis EMF meter, a pyrometer, a DVR with 2 IR cameras, 1 LCD monitor, various digital audio recorders, and a set of two-way radios.
One of the IR cameras that were hooked to the DVR was set up in the basement hallway that leads to the bookroom and the other was placed in the 1st floor tool section facing down the aisles. The Sony Hi-8 camera was also connected to the DVR and was placed on the second floor storage area. All of these cameras ran for the entire night with the exception of the Hi-8 which ran until the battery died. I took the Sony DCR-80 with myself to record what I was experiencing.
Jaeson and I started our walkthrough at approximately 12 am and the other’s stayed and watched the DVR. We began by taking baseline readings throughout the property. We did not notice any unusual readings. One point of interest though is that as Jaeson and I entered the back room of the basement via the hallway that leads to the bookroom etc., Vicky and her friends said they heard a loud crash like we had knocked something over but neither Jaeson nor I could recall any loud noise.
After finishing up our baselines we decided to do some EVP under the stairs that lead to the basement as there was supposedly something bad that happened there. We did not encounter anything during the EVP session.
It was then decided to take a break and bring one of the members of the hosting party along with us. Vicky’s friend’s daughter, whom we will call “Katie” was selected and we preceded down to the bookroom for some EVP work.
Previous investigations had reported the sound of a girl crying if a children’s book was read in the book room so we decided to try that. We selected Peter Pan and asked Katie to read while Jaeson and I monitored the equipment. After a short time I heard what I thought was a bump or thump coming from the furniture room. We hurriedly went to investigate but didn’t find anything anomalous but we decided to move our EVP session into the furniture room. We had Katie sit in a rocking chair and read as if she was reading to a child or group of children that would be on the floor in front of her. Jaeson and I were at the opposite end of the furniture room monitoring our equipment. After a short time of Katie reading Jaeson noticed a mild fluctuation on his Tri-field meter. The EMF field seemed to be steady at about 0.5 Gauss and then would spike to a little over 1 every once and a while. When Katie finished reading the book we asked her to say “The End” to signify a signature ending to a story read by an adult to a child. The EMF spiked just after she said “The End”. We found this to be a little strange but not definitive.
By this time it was close to 2 am and we still had an hour drive to get back home so we decided to wrap it up. When we returned upstairs we were told by Vicky and her friend that while we were downstairs they had heard what sounded like a growling sound on the first floor quite near where they were, which was by the cash register, and a high-pitched shriek that sounded behind the register area. They had tried to call us on the two-way to tell us about it but unfortunately we had forgotten it upstairs. In the future we plan on leaving an audio recording device on the first floor to make sure we don’t miss anything. We then collected all of our equipment and headed home.
By the end of the evening we had about 20 hours of video and 4 hours of audio to go over. Over the preceding months we were able to pore over the evidence.
After going over all of the video evidence I did not find anything solid from two of the cameras hooked to the DVR and my handheld Sony DCR-80. There were plenty of orbs seen on the camera that was left in the basement hallway but the basement was quite dusty and none of them could be connected to any personal experiences. I was able to find the spot in the video where Vicky and her friend’s had stated that they heard a large crash when Jaeson and I entered the basement storage area using the door off of the hallway that leads to the bookroom. There was no crash of any kind caught on my handheld camera leaving that loud crash unexplained.
The Hi-8 camera that we had on the 2nd floor storage area did seem to yield some interesting phenomena. There seems to be a sound of what seems to be something being thrown and hitting something. The sound happens many times on camera although you can’t see anything. We came up to check the camera twice and during both times the sound stops while we are up there and then starts up again once we leave. The sound could be many things. Someone may have been throwing stones at the window from outside the building, or there could be some heating ducts in the floor that may be knocking and making the sounds. It is hard to pin-point the exact cause but we plan to investigate it further upon our return to Vicky’s shop to try and debunk it if we can.
Conclusion
The audio and pictures likewise turned up nothing out of the ordinary.
The investigation on Elsing’s Second Hand Shop started out a little rocky but was definitely worth the trip. I look forward to returning there many more times to increase our data set at the location. Vicky, her husband, and her friends, are the friendliest, most accommodating people you will even meet, and PIM thanks them for their hospitality and willingness for us to do this investigation.
