History
The owner, who I will call “Fred,” has lived in the house since he was 18 years old. The house originally belonged to his great grandfather who had mob ties and made booze in the barn for sale during prohibition.
His fiance, “Wilma,” lives with him in the farmhouse, and her adult daughter, “Pebbles,” lives in California but comes often for extended visits. The phenomenon with the cups seems to be somehow connected to the daughter. Unfortunately, she had just returned to California so we were unable to do experiments involving her to see if her presence would make a difference.
This is a gorgeous old farmhouse and “Wilma” loves to decorate and she has done a great job making this house beautiful. She did not notice any real correlation between the changes made to the home and the stirring of activity which many claim to be a factor in paranormal activity. It was also noted, that the experience that “Fred” had with the apparition in the field was before “Wilma” had moved in.
The activity with the cups would happen when the family was out of the house for a few hours or asleep. One instance occurred when the daughter was watching television. She got up to use the restroom and saw that the cups had somehow moved from the kitchen cabinet to the stairs and arranged themselves so one cup was on each step. Another time, the family returned home after all being out together, and the cups were arranged in a pattern on the kitchen floor. Whenever this happens, all of the kitchen cabinets are left wide open. PIM cannot attest to whether these instances were caused by paranormal means, but after speaking with the family and getting to know them, we do believe that they are sincere in their desire to find out what is causing this.
Arrival
Noah and Missy arrived at 7:00 pm and were joined by Jann who had stopped to grab food for the group. When Noah and Missy arrived they noticed that one of the cats had thrown up on the rug. The owners were contacted and told the group where they could find cleaning supplies. Jann cleaned up the mess so the rug would not be stained, and the group found the cat and it seemed to be feeling ok. The cats were placed on the front screened-in porch for the investigation. The group then had dinner and discussed how the investigation would proceed.
At 8:19 pm, Jann went outside to take weather readings with the Kestrel 3500 Weather Station. A storm was coming up, and there would be mild thunderstorms throughout the night. Missy took baseline EMF (electromagnetic energy) and temperature readings inside the house while Noah came up with a game plan for where equipment would be set up.
After a brief discussion with the rest of the group, Noah directed Jann to place a SONY DCR-SR85 video camera in the Dining Room facing the stairs where the cups have been found. Jann placed a Zoom H2 audio recorder near the staircase as this is capable of recording higher quality audio than the video camera.
Missy placed a Sony HDR-XR200V Video camera in the Kitchen and aimed it up the stairs so the Staircase was captured from two angles, and the top of the landing was visible on the camera in the Kitchen. A Zoom H1 audio recorder was placed in the kitchen as well.
Dataloggers are used to take temperature, humidity and barometric pressure readings at set time intervals (once every minute). These devices were placed in the upstairs TV room where people experience dizziness. A Zoom H1 audio recorder was used to capture audio in this area.
Cups were arranged on the stairs in the same fashion that they were found by the family on a previous date. This was done in hopes of there being evidence of physical manipulation of the cups when the group would leave the area and return.
The plan for this investigation was to alternate passive investigation and active investigation to see which would elicit a better response. Passive is when investigators go about their business and have conversations unrelated to the investigation so see if this might cause activity to occur. This was done because many of the claims of activity seemed to occur when the family was in bed or when the owner and his fiance were in bed and “Pebbles” was in the family room watching TV.
All equipment was set by 9:08 pm and the group gathered in the Living Room.
Claims of Activity
- Residents feel odd in certain areas of the house, mainly in the TV Room on the upstairs landing
- Owner has seen the apparition of a man in the field outside of the home
- Owner has seen black mist appear near the door to the front porch and disappear into the floorboards
- A noise that sounded like a growl was heard coming from the kitchen
- The family wakes up or comes home to plastic cups lined up on the stairs or arranged in patterns on the floor in the Kitchen
- Daughter woke to find her flip flops balanced on the bannister
Investigation
Living Room – 9:08 pm
The group was seated in the Living Room and investigated passively until 11:29pm. During this time, there was no unusual activity. The group could hear noises of trees rustling as there were mild thunderstorms that would kick up throughout the night, but nothing seemed unusual.
END TIME: 11:29 pm
At this time, the group went to the kitchen for an energy drink and kept lights out in the area.
Living Room – 12:10 am
The group went back to the Living Room to investigate. A brief EVP session was held until 12:18 am when the group decided to move to the TV Room upstairs. No responses were noted at this time or captured on recordings.
END TIME: 12:18 am
TV Room – 12:26 am
The group was seated in the TV Room and began to investigate the area. At 12:29 am, Noah heard a thump from downstairs. When asked if there was someone who could repeat that noise, there was no response.
At 12:34 am and at 12:39am, Missy and Jann heard what they said sounded like something moved downstairs. It is undetermined what was making these noises as it was windy and there are large trees near the house that may have been causing the noises by rubbing against the house.
Noah thought it may actually be the doors to the bedrooms upstairs causing the noises by rattling a little due to the pressure changes from the weather. Most of the windows in the house were open when the group had arrived at the house. He went to the doors to test them and saw that a window was open in a bedroom. We concluded that this was very likely the source of the noises.
The group stayed upstairs until 1:05 am with no audible responses to questions. At this time they decided to revisit the Living Room.
END TIME: 1:05 am
The group checked the cups to see it they were moved at all while everyone was upstairs, and unfortunately they we as they had been left. The group then moved to the Living Room to investigate.
Living Room – 1:26 am
Everyone was seated in the Living Room where the group investigated passively until about 1:55 am when they decided to do a quick EVP session to see if they could elicit responses by asking direct questions. The EVP session lasted until 2:10 am with no result, so the group decided to end the investigation.
END TIME: 2:10 am
Conclusion
The activity that is reported at this location is unlike what we usually hear from our clients. We believe we were able to debunk the growling noise that was heard as a sound made by the refrigerator. We would definitely love to come back and see if the young girl being in the house sparks more activity and see what we can do to capture that activity as evidence.
During this investigation the group did not experience any phenomena, nor was any recorded on the audio or video equipment. Since activity is unpredictable, and our time at a location is limited, we urge our clients to continue to track any activity they observe, and welcome opportunities to return to the location.
As always PIM is grateful for the opportunity to investigate private residences. Our main purpose is to help those who are experiencing things in their homes and businesses and to hopefully help them find the cause. We would like to give our sincere thanks to this great family for allowing us to be of service.
