History
The Old Country Home is a two-story brick house built in 1890 to serve the poor and destitute of Audubon County. The home still has its original floor plan and includes 1800 square feet of space, with a large kitchen and pantry, Victorian parlor, and bedrooms. In 1901, the Cottage Wing was added for the caregiver. As a working “poor farm” on 160 acres of land, it hosted those who had fallen on hard times, those who had lost family support, and those who were no longer able to care or support themselves. Up to 18 residents were present at a time, but only those of able body had to work. The farm closed after 60 years of operation, when federal welfare practices took hold in the 1950s.
The Audubon County Home District acquired the house and property to create a museum in 1976. Although the farm house is the main attraction, it shares the spotlight with a one-room schoolhouse (not original to the property), barns, chicken coop, antique farm machinery and pioneer cemetery. This 10-acre park is named in honor of an important historical figure in Audubon County, Nathaniel Hamlin, although he never lived on the property. The Old Country Home was added to the National Historic Registry in 2015 (#15000080).
Arrival
The team arrived at 11:10 am and was met by the manager of the park. After a brief introduction, the team unpacked the equipment from the van, locked the house, and went to eat lunch. At 3:11 pm Tom and Marilsa collected environmental data using a Kestrel 3500 weather station and MEL-8704SDD, an electromagnetic field (EMF) single-axis detector. Data were collected both outside and inside the house. The inside readings are in the table below.
At 3:15 pm the team began setting up the equipment for the investigation.
Every member of PIM is equipped with a Zoom H1 audio recorder, which is used as their control recorder, a Boblov body camera and either the Extech RHT50 or Extech SD700 datalogger. Control recorders are not only used as another recording device but also to document the sound contamination that an investigator might create during an investigation. Control recorders are started and time stamped first before any other equipment is started and they are turned off last to ensure any anomalous noises can be cross-checked. All audio recorders, including control recorders, are also placed in a Faraday cage.
A Faraday cage is a container that can block EMF frequencies. The construction of the cage will determine how many different EMF frequencies the cage will be able to block. Faraday cages work by generating an external static electrical field which causes the electric charges within the cage’s conducting material to be distributed such that they cancel the field’s effect in the cage’s interior. PIM’s cages are designed to specifically block out FM, and some AM, radio frequencies from interfering with their audio recorders, thus creating false EVPs.
The Extech dataloggers take temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure readings once a minute (RHT50) or every 5 seconds (SD700), and is used to try and correlate environmental data with any personal experiences an investigator might encounter during an investigation or anomalous audio/video data captured during an investigation.
In the First Floor Dining Room, a Zoom H1 audio recorder was placed on a middle table closest to the windows.
In the First Floor Hallway, a stationary Zoom H1 audio recorder was placed next to the mannequin of the phone operator, a Sony HDR-CX160 multi-spectrum camera was placed in front of the room with the Judge’s desk, covering the hallway, and an EDI+ datalogger was placed in view of the camera.
On the Second Floor Stair Landing (outside Room 6), a Mel-8704REM/SDD single-axis EMF meter with “shadow detector” function and a Sony HDR-CX160 multi-spectrum camera were placed to cover the hallway.
In the Second Floor Hallway outside Room 9 (Children’s room), a Sony FDR-AX53 4K camera was placed to cover the three windows (one in the hallway and two in the room where apparitions were claimed to be seen) along with an EDI+ datalogger in view of the camera, and a Zoom H1 audio recorder.
On the Second Floor in Room 2, an EDI+ datalogger, a Zoom H1 audio recorder, and Sony HDR-CX150 multi-spectrum camera were placed to cover the room and see into the Second Floor Hallway.
At 5:10 pm the team finished setting up the equipment, turned all the equipment on, time stamped it all, and left the building to eat supper.
At 6:47 pm, the team returned from eating supper and prepared to investigate the main building.
Claims
REPORTED PARANORMAL ACTIVITY:
- Outside, parking lot: crunching sound of footsteps on gravel
- Whole building: Disembodied voices (“Stop it.” “Help me.”)
- First Floor: Two musical notes of a piano.
- Second Floor Hallway: Little girl running up and down the hall, disembodied voices of little children humming or singing.
- Children’s Room: a little girl gazing out of the window, noted from outside
Investigation
7:26 pm – First Floor Dining Room and Hallway
The team spread around the Dining Room and the Hallway. Gravy and Tom were in the Dining Room, Tony in front of the Judge’s Room, Noah was at the bottom of the stairs, and Marilsa near the operator mannequin.
The team began with control silence to become familiar with the surrounding sounds from the location. PIM uses “control silence” which is a method practiced at each new location within an investigation location. It allows for members to get a baseline of normal noises the building could make throughout the night. It also allows for the group to tag outside noises heard in that area so as not to be mistaken as something paranormal. During the control silence the team noted cars, people talking, birds, and the hum of the cooling fans of the IR lights.
At 7:28 pm the team started an EVP session. At 7:39 pm a helicopter was heard. At 7:46 pm Gravy heard a quiet humming noise.
The soft hum heard by Gravy was not picked up on any of the audio recorders, and so it is difficult to explain the source of the sound. It is most likely a natural sound, possibly coming from the nearby road.
The kitchen shades were pulled down further at 7:50 pm.
No events occurred during this session and it was decided to move to the Second Floor.
7:53 pm – Second Floor
Noah was near the Children’s Room (Room 9), Tom was at the top of the stairs, Tony was in the Hallway in front of rooms 2, 3 and 4, Gravy was in Room 2, and Marilsa was in the Sewing Room (Room 1).
Control silence began at 7:53 pm and a crow, cars, singing birds, and the hum of IR lights were noted.
An EVP session was started at 7:55 pm.
At 8:08 pm the sound of a metallic boom was noted. The metallic boom may have been related to the house and objects in the house but a source was not located. PIM does not believe this to be paranormal.
At 8:14 pm Marilsa heard a cat meow.
No other events of note occurred during this session and it was decided to take a break.
BREAK 8:32 pm to 8:56 pm
After the break, the team decided to head out of the main house and investigate some of the other buildings located in the park.
8:59 pm – Blacksmith Shop
The team was spread throughout the small room. Control silence began at 8:59 pm and traffic, a car horn, and birds were noted.
At 8:55 pm Noah started an EVP session. No events were noted and it was decided to move to the School.
9:12 pm – School
The team was spread throughout the School (which was a single large room), sitting at different desks. Control silence began at 9:12 pm, and traffic, a faint car horn, and birds were noted.
At 9:14 pm Gravy started an EVP session. No events were noted during the session and it was decided to move to the next building.
9:27 pm – Antique Farm Equipment Warehouse
The team was spread throughout the Warehouse. Control silence began at 9:27 pm.
At 9:29 pm an EVP session was started. Immediately everyone heard the sound of a stone hitting the cement floor in front of where Gravy was sitting, bouncing at least three times, based on the sound. The team quickly went to the location to see if the stone could be located. The floor was incredibly clean. A few small pebbles and small piles of dry mud were noted around some of the tires, but not in the area where the sound emanated from. It is possible the item that caused the sound bounced under or onto some of the equipment that was present in the Warehouse making it impossible to locate after the fact. Upon evidence review, the sound was captured on the control recorders and even on audio of the Boblov body cameras. Unfortunately, no cameras were able to capture what caused the noise.
Everyone then returned to their original locations, and continued with the control silence.
At 9:33 pm, and EVP session was started.
At 9:45 pm, a bell was heard ringing about three times. When the bell was heard, those closest to the front of the building immediately went to the window and opened the door to check for visitors on the property. There was enough natural and man-made light to clearly visualize the bell, the park clearing around the bell (estimated at more than an acre of lawn), and the parking lot. The bell was not rocking, no people or animals were present on the lawn, and no cars were in the parking lot. In addition, no cars were travelling the gravel road adjacent to the farm or on the highway in front of the historic farm.
There are two bells on the farm. One is associated with the school and is on the roof of the building. It was very difficult to pull the rope to ring that bell, making it unlikely that the school bell was the source of the sound. The second bell is on a tall pole near the Elk Barn. It too was difficult to ring as there was no rope. The bell could be rung by swinging the pole, but again would be difficult to ring three times. This event also remains unexplained, but most likely not paranormal.
No other events occurred during this session and the team moved to the next building.
10:03 pm – Records Conference Room
The team was throughout the large room that had tables in the middle and filing cabinets around the periphery. Control silence began at 10:03 pm with no additional noises noted.
At 10:04 pm an EVP session was started. Despite asking many questions, no events were noted and the team decided to end the session and return to the main house.
10:27 pm – First Floor
Each member of the team sat in a different location than before, but the same spots were occupied. No control silence was needed and an EVP session was started at 10:27 pm.
Nothing of note occurred, and the team moved to the Second Floor.
10:34 pm – Second Floor
Just like on the First Floor, each member of the team sat in a different location than previously, but the same spots were occupied. No control silence was needed and the EVP session began at 10:34 pm.
Again, no events occurred during this EVP session, and the team decided to head back to the Warehouse to see if additional activity might occur.
10:34 pm – Antique Farm Equipment Warehouse
The team sat at different locations throughout the Warehouse. The team again tried to locate the source of the sound heard during the first EVP session but were again unsuccessful. The team then used stones picked up outside to try to replicate the sound heard previously. A roughly 1-inch diameter stone got close to reproducing the sound but was more muted and would only bounce twice. Although the event remains unexplained, it was noted that there was some bird nests located in the top of the steel girders of the Warehouse. It is possible something could have fallen from one of these nests to create the sound and the source just could not be located.
After this debunking session, Noah started an EVP session at 10:45 pm.
Despite many questions and requests to possibly throw more items, no additional events occurred in this space and the team decided to end the investigation at 11:00 pm.
After the EVP session in the Antique Farm Equipment Warehouse was over, the team went back to the main house, turned off the recording devices, and packed up the equipment for the night.
Conclusion
The historic farm is an interesting and beautiful location and the property is well maintained. In addition, the farm brings together much of the history and culture of the State of Iowa. The paranormal events reported by previous investigators in the main house were not noted by PIM during their investigation, but two unexplained events did occur. These events occurred while investigating the Warehouse, a location the team did not think would yield much activity. The sound of the stone was unique as no stone or other object capable of creating the noise heard was found, and the sound was difficult to reproduce. However, with no stationary equipment being placed inside the Warehouse, some possible natural explanations for the sound, such as an animal, cannot be ruled out.
Also, the ringing of the bell outside was problematic. Some of the more mundane explanations were quickly eliminated, such as a visitor wandering the closed park or an animal striking the bell. Since the noise seemed to come from outside the Warehouse, there are many possibilities that would be hard to rule out, such as a bell being rung from a distance away that only seemed to be closer. It is due to these limitations that PIM does not usually investigate outside locations as there is too much that cannot be controlled for, making collecting evidence difficult.
