Arrival
Noah, Gravy, and John arrived at the location at 7:00 pm. They made their way into the building and met with some of the faculty. After getting an idea of the layout of the building and where base camp was going to be set up, Gravy pulled his car around the back of the building. They unloaded their equipment and moved it into the old cafeteria room where base camp was located. While John went around to each of the rooms to get his impressions, Noah and Gravy began to set up equipment, take environmental readings and close and secure all windows and doors. Gravy also darkened areas of interest by covering lights, exits signs and windows. By 9:15 pm, all the equipment was placed and the group, along with two faculty members and several students, met in the museum where they went over John’s impressions. Based on John’s impressions, Noah and Gravy determined the trigger objects placed in Vida’s office would be better off in the museum room; thus they were moved into that room. Once John finished his impressions, the group discussed other haunted locations on campus and the history of Ripon. Noah then went over guidelines and rules of investigating before splitting everyone up into two groups and moving to separate locations in the building. Group 1 consisted of Noah, Marc Eaton, and various students. Group 2 consisted of Gravy, John, Vida, and some students. The students were from the paranormal group on campus.
Please note: From 8:45 pm until 9:25 pm a student, with permission to be in the building, was isolated in the lab room. From there, she was able to exit the building once her work was completed.
Investigation
2nd and 3rd Floor – 9:58 pm
The group situated themselves throughout the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building. The group observed moments of controlled silence to get accustomed to the natural sounds of the building as it settles and the temperature cools for the night. At 10:02 pm, Noah heard a hollow knock like that of a cabinet door being closed. After radioing Group 2, no cause of the sound was found and the group began an EVP session at 10:06 pm.
At 10:23 pm, a student, sitting on the third floor, heard the sound of typing on a computer keyboard coming from one of the offices on that floor. It was determined that this noise was most likely caused by some equipment inside the room but since the door was locked we could not confirm this. No other activity occurred during this time and the EVP session was called to an end.
GROUP 2
LOCATION: Sub-Basement
The group situated themselves throughout the Sub-Basement floor. One student was placed in the storage closet where John had impressions of a young gentleman. The rest of the group sat in various locations in the shooting range and controlled silence was observed for several minutes before beginning an EVP session. Knocks were heard from the floor above and it was determined that the group was under the room were the student was isolated in. No other activity was noticed at this time and the EVP session was ended.
END TIME: 10:31 pm
Both groups switched locations after meeting on the 1st Floor to discuss any activity.
Sub-Basement – 10:40 pm
The group situated themselves throughout the floor and began to observe controlled silence. A student was placed in the ROTC closet, Marc was in the other storage room off the shooting range, a few students were sitting throughout the shooting range, and Noah was standing at the entrance to this portion of the Sub-Basement. No activity occurred during the time in this area and the EVP session was ended.
GROUP 2
LOCATION: 2nd and 3rd Floor
The group situated themselves on both the 2nd and 3rd floor. They observed several minutes of controlled silence before beginning an EVP session. At 10:48 pm and again at 10:56 pm, a student, on the 2nd floor, heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway of the same floor. No origins of the sounds were found. The group ended their EVP session shortly after.
END TIME: 11:00 pm
At 11:05 pm, both groups met on the 1st Floor to swap members while additional students arrived for the second portion of the investigation. Noah, again, went over the rules and guidelines for investigating for the joining members and they split into two groups. Besides the new students the groups were the same except Vida moved from Group 2 to Group 1.
Sub-Basement – 11:20 pm
The group spread themselves throughout the room; observing a few minutes of silence before starting an EVP session. At 11:35 pm, the group heard a large thump from the floor above them. Noah radioed Gravy and his group also heard a similar sound. No source for the noise was found and it was decided that it may have just been a building noise. No other activity was experienced during this time and the EVP session was ended.
GROUP 2
2nd and 3rd Floor
The group situated themselves throughout both floors. After the group observed a few moments of silence, they began an EVP session. At 11:16 pm, movement was heard in the back room on the 2nd Floor. No cause of the sound was found. At 11:31 pm, Gravy heard the hollow sound of a cabinet door closing as heard by Group 1 earlier in the night. Again, no explanation for the sound was found. At 11:34 pm, a student heard a loud thump from the 2nd Floor. No other activity occurred during this time.
END TIME: 11:44 pm
Both groups meet on the 1st Floor to discuss any activity that was observed before switching locations.
2nd and 3rd Floor – 11:51 pm
GROUP 1
The group spread out between both floors. After observing a few minutes of silence, they began an EVP session. At 12:06 am, a printer on the 2nd floor started to make noise like it was coming out of stand-by mode or was going to print something. At the same time, Noah and a student heard a noise on the 3rd floor that sounded like a voice mumbling or grumbling. No known cause was found for this noise and it was unknown if the printer could have caused the noise to occur. No other activity occurred during this time and the EVP session was ended.
GROUP 2
Sub-Basement
The group spread throughout the floor with a student in the ROTC storage closet. No activity was noticed during the EVP session and the session was ended.
END TIME: 12:15 am
Both groups met on the 1st Floor museum and took a short break. After the break it was decided to do one last session with everyone spread out on the 1st Floor.
1st Floor – 12:43 am
Both groups spread throughout the entire 1st Floor. After observing a few minutes of silence, the group started an EVP session. No known activity occurred and the investigation was ended for the night.
END TIME: 1:09 am
The students left the building and the group packed up their equipment, locked up, and left for the night.
Conclusion
No evidence was collected during this investigation.
This was PIM’s first time investigating West Hall and we were excited to investigate the claims of activity there. Being that Noah is an alumnus of Ripon College, he remembers hearing the reports of activity that were supposed to occur there and he was very interested in seeing if he could prove or disprove those reports. Unfortunately, PIM was unable to do a lot of debunking during this investigation due to the short time they had to investigate the building. PIM was also unable to capture any evidence of the reports of activity during the investigation. Of the reports, the most striking is that of the sound of someone falling down the stairs from the 3rd Floor to the 2nd Floor. Based on the reports, it would seem that this activity is most likely residual in nature. This means that the activity is not caused by a conscious entity. However, PIM would relish another opportunity to investigate West Hall to do some debunking of this and the other claims, as well as try and document any happenings that may occur there. One investigation is never enough to really understand what may be going on at any location and PIM looks forward to the opportunity to investigate West Hall again in the future.
PIM would like to thank the faculty and staff in West Hall for allowing us to investigate the building. PIM would like to specifically thank Vida VandeSlunt and Marc Eaton for helping to facilitate this investigation and David Jewett and the rest of PSS for sponsoring PIM to come and investigate West Hall.
