Arrival
Noah, Gravy, and Tony arrived at the location at 3:25 pm. They meet with the owner’s mother. She allowed them access into the outbuilding of the Haunted Hide Away. Noah, Gravy and Tony toured the location to get an idea of the challenges and obstacles that lied ahead for their investigation. They took note of the many entrances and exits of the building that not only humans can use but animals as well. They, then, proceeded to bring in their equipment and set up base camp in the main lounging room of the building. At 3:50 pm, the owner’s friend showed up and gave an official tour of the location. He pointed out hot spots for activity, for equipment location purposes, but was careful not to share what sorts of activity were occurring in those areas.
At 4:45 pm, the group began to set up equipment in the locations where activity was reported. Gravy and Noah also took this time to secure the building by locking or blocking all entrances into the building. One door, on the northwest side of the structure was unable to be locked and was therefore used as the main access point to the building. During the setup, Gravy felt something wrap around part of his ankle. He described it as a light touch on the outside of his ankle. It reached from the front to the back of his ankle and only lasted for a brief moment. There was nothing on the ground that was stepped on and his shoe lace was too short to reach the back of his ankle where some of the contact was felt. Shortly after, during set up, the owner arrived and began to discuss some of the claims of activity in particular areas.
At 7:00 pm, the group walked through the building and turned on and time stamped all of their equipment. At 7:30 pm, power was shut off to the building, they exited the building, locking it behind them, and talked to the owner before departing for dinner. The group returned at 8:30 pm and proceeded to check all their equipment and replace batteries where needed. They began the official investigation by 8:42 pm.
Claims of Activity
- As seen on “My Ghost Story”, an object was captured on video by another group. It appeared to come out of the wall, move from top to bottom and disappear
- Claims of voices being heard throughout various areas of the complex
- The sound of a women screaming
- The horn in the truck room was malfunctioning in an abnormal way causing it to turn on at strange times. While it seemed to malfunction for some people, it worked for others
- Feeling of being grabbed around the leg
Investigation
The main claim of activity that PIM focused on for debunking was the bit of video captured by a previous group that was featured on “My Ghost Story”. Gravy thought that the object seen may have simply been a shadow caused by having multiple IR lights trained on the location where the item was captured. PIM tried to recreate this effect using various IR lights with PIM members at various locations in the room. Nothing PIM did could sufficiently reproduce what was captured on the video. This does not mean the video is definitely paranormal. The quality of the video that was shot is not very good. It lacks proper illumination and appears quite grainy, leaving a possibility of pareidolia as an explanation. Pareidolia is when your brain makes sense out of nonsense, like seeing shapes in the clouds. A grainy video can easily lead people to see things in it and once one person points something out it is easy for others to see the same thing. After leaving the location PIM had some further ideas that could be tested and hope they are able to return to the Haunted Hideaway in the future to test them.
Besides the malfunctioning of the truck horn, the other claims are difficult to debunk, but can be explained by the fact that the Haunted Hideaway is not sound proof with neighbors very close nearby. It is also not animal or bug proof, which can allow for things to get into the Haunted Hideaway that result in perceived paranormal activity. The nature of it being a haunted house results in many winding, narrow passageways which could easily conceal an animal. It would also make a good resting place for an animal as it is out of the elements and relatively dry. Without audio to analyze, it is hard to verify these other claims. Obviously we don’t know for certain that these are the cause of these other claims, but it is one possibility which should be considered.
TV Room – 9:13 pm
The group situated themselves throughout the TV room. Noah sat in the middle of the room while Tony and Gravy sat at each of the entrances to the room. They started out by observing a few moments of silence so as to get accustomed to the natural sounds of the building. It wasn’t long before Gravy heard scratching noises of a small animal behind him. Noah used the FLIR in an attempt to locate the heat signature of the animal. At 9:20 pm, there was a loud bang on the metal roof above the TV room and the group went outside to investigate. There was a tree whose branches hovered above this area and a small unidentified animal was seen running across the roof. The group moved to the other side of the complex in an attempt to identify the animal but was unsuccessful. The group then decided to conclude this part of the investigation.
END TIME: 9:20 pm
The group went into the house to talk to the owner about the animal situation and also review the raw footage of the evidence that was caught on video. It was at this point the owner was asked to join the group for part of the investigation as he had requested to participate earlier in the evening.
Library – 10:06 pm
The owner described the layout of the room and where people were situated when the footage of the object was caught on camera. The group discussed and attempted to debunk possibilities that might have caused the event. The group, including the owner, situated themselves throughout the room. At the owner’s suggestion, they avoided one side of the room. He believed there would be no response if we invaded a certain space in the room. The group then began to observe five minutes of silence before starting an EVP session. The group respectfully asked for responses and when no known activity occurred, the group switched gears and began a short provoking session. They threatened to invade a particular space if no audible or visual response was given. Gravy then moved over to the space in an attempt to elicit a response. No activity occurred in response to Gravy’s invasion of the space. At 10:25 pm, the owner suggested switching places with his female partner in an attempt to elicit a response. Gravy walked back to the house with the owner while Tony and Noah remained in the library. For personal reasons, the female did not want to participate in any of the investigation and the group decided to move to a different location.
END TIME: 10:25 pm
Truck Room – 10:35 pm
Gravy, Noah, Tony, and the owner proceeded into the truck room. While Noah and the owner where in the truck room Tony and Gravy were in the Doll Room. Tony felt something touch his leg. It was undetermined as to what it was as no insect was found in the vicinity. The group situated themselves in the truck room and began to observe silence before beginning an EVP session. During the session, Gravy asked for three knocks and everyone in the group except for Gravy heard three knocks or pops. It was determined that the steel drums surrounding the property were adjusting due to the drop in temperature. No other activity occurred during this time and the EVP session was concluded.
END TIME: 11:00 pm
The group took a break and went into the house to investigate a photo that was taken in a mirror by the daughter. It was determined that there were smudges on the mirror that when reflecting light caused unwanted images on the picture. Once this was debunked, the group went back to the lounge room for a short break. At 11:45 pm, the group checked their equipment and changed batteries where needed. After finishing this, they decided to start the investigation again in the Library.
Library – 12:00 am
The group discussed different possibilities for the object caught on video. They attempted a few experiments to see if they could recreate the same footage. Some attempts were close but nothing was exact. It was decided that without the exact scenario of the event, it may not be able to determine if there is a natural explanation for what was captured on video by the other group.
END TIME: 12:36 am
Clown Room – 12:42 am
The group situated themselves throughout the Clown Room. While observing silence, they heard a loud slam like that of a door. Concerned that someone had entered base camp, they ended their session promptly and returned to Base Camp to ensure the location was still secure.
END TIME: 12:48 am
Upon approaching the main door, it was noticed that it was slightly ajar. No one was in Base Camp. It was also noted that the door would no longer latch and therefore wouldn’t lock; possibly due to the drop in temperature. After confirming there was no one in the building the group continued investigating.
Kid Room – 1:08 am
The group spread out through the room and observed silence before beginning an EVP session. It was requested by the owner that the group provoke since there were claims of negative energy towards those with negative intentions towards children. The group started the EVP session provoking and no known response was experienced during this time and no EVPs were found after evidence review was complete. The group decided to move to another location.
END TIME: 1:20 am
Truck Room – 1:25 am
After observing silence, the group started their EVP session by provoking. No activity occurred and the group concluded the session.
END TIME: 1:45 am
The group returned to base camp and took a break. They turned on the power in the base camp. They also turned on the TV that was connected to the IR cameras in the building. From base camp they watched the cameras to see if activity was stirred up. The group also conducted a short EVP session while at base camp. No activity was occurring and at 3:10 am Noah called an end to the investigation. The group gathered up and packed up their equipment. At 3:45 am, all control recorders were turned off. One voice recorder was left running in base camp while the group slept.
The next morning the group got up and packed their gear into the car. They then said goodbye to the owner Larry and headed back to Wisconsin.
Conclusion
This was PIM’s first visit to this location and it was PIM’s first investigation of a haunted attraction. This resulted in new challenges that PIM has not previously come up against. The design of haunted house attractions makes them difficult to investigate do to the low reflective surfaces for IR light and twisting, narrow corridors. However, with a large amount of equipment we were able to cover all reported hotspots and used a handheld camera to cover those areas where stationary equipment could not be placed. With that being said, PIM was not able to capture any evidence during this investigation.
The owner has lived on the property for many years and experienced activity in the house and land long before The Haunted Hideaway was constructed. PIM found the owner to be very genuine and he gave us complete access to the location and did his best to stay out of our way. As an owner of a haunted attraction, it obviously would be good for business if the location was deemed to actually be haunted. However, the owner was very clear that was not his intent, and he just wanted answers as to what the activity was, whether those answers were of a normal or paranormal nature did not matter to him.
As with any investigation, one visit is not enough to determine what is going on. Paranormal activity is fleeting and rare, so PIM does not want to draw any conclusions about The Haunted Hideaway until more investigations can be conducted in the future. PIM will use this experience to build on for their next investigation.
PIM would like to thank the owner of The Haunted Hideaway for allowing them to investigate this location. Many people have inquired to do so and PIM was honored to be selected. PIM would be very happy to come back to do a follow-up investigation at a later date.
