Chester Vermont
Investigation Conducted May 28, 2006
Private Location
The ISIS team set out on May 28, 2006 to conduct an investigation at a private residence in Chester, Vermont after receiving numerous complaints from the current occupants of the home.  Upon receiving in-depth communication from one of the occupants living at the location, our team decided further investigation was warranted and preceded to the location with a team of eight individuals: five females and three male investigators were present.  The team was privileged enough to have a client that kept a journal about all of the unusual happenings that occurred since they had moved their family into the quiet town of Chester and such information was conveyed to the team upon initial contact with the client.

History of Occurrences:

After receiving our website information from a family member, the owners of the home decided to contact us for further investigation when the activity that was occurring at the location reached a level of extreme upset to all of the members in the household.  The family had moved into the home in Chester about a year ago, having moved from Florida.  They purchased a run down house and began completely renovating the location.  Once the renovations were complete enough for the family to move in, the 35 year-old female and her 40 year-old spouse moved in with their two young daughters, ages 5 and 3.

According to the client, the house is rich with history and it is listed in the National Historic Registry.  The house has also been rumored to have had a part in the Underground Railroad and one of the former owners of the home was the first Baptist minister in the State of Vermont.  According to the client and her own research, the minister was viewed as progressive and asked to step down from his position because he married a white woman to a black man.

During the process of renovation, the clients discovered "hundreds" of Civil War documents, love letters, photographs and the like, placed between the horsehair plaster ceiling and the roof trusses.  Approximately 500-700 documents were discovered in the roof rafters (when the family tore off the plaster during renovation).  They were stuffed up in the ceiling and when the plaster was removed, they all came tumbling down.  There was a mix of documents:  lots of poetry, civil war letters, love letters, a marriage license, legal documents, church sermons, nature writing, photos, etc...There were hundreds of names on the documents.  They were found in decent condition.    The house consisted of an attached apartment and a cape, had been empty for two years prior to the family purchasing it, after the death of the former owner.  The former owner died of cancer and it was believed that her children dabbled in occult activities.

According to the client, the activity her and her family were experiencing was the first time they had ever experienced anything like it.  They are an educated couple, both possessing college degrees, and consider themselves to be extremely logical.  As unexplained activity continued, the family grew confused and frightened.  According to the client, none of the workers that renovated the home experienced anything unusual.

Per the client, the family moved into the home after a period of ten months of renovation.  The foundation of the home, and the interior was ready to live in-although there still remained some aesthetic improvements that were to be made while the family lived in the home.  The client reports that her family was thrilled about moving into their new home.  After two days of moving everything into the location, the family spent their first night in the home on March 1, 2006.

At the time that the family moved in, the only room that was not ready for occupancy was the daughter's bedroom: the carpet had yet to be installed.  That evening, at bedtime, the family shared a room, the parent's room, and the daughters slept on an inflatable bed, and the animals, two dogs, slept on the floor in the same room as well.  In the middle of the night, the client reports that she was woken up by the sound of wind chimes ringing inside the house and the sound of two little girls giggling and playing.  The client reported hearing the children running around and "having fun."  The client also states that she does not own any wind chimes and cannot explain where the sound came from.  Thinking that her two daughters were running around and playing, the client got up to check on her daughters.  She found the two girls fast asleep, along with the family pets and the unexplained sounds could still be heard.  The client continued to listen and after a minute or two, the sounds disappeared.  In the morning, the client attributed the strange experience to lucid dreaming and thought nothing more of it.

Later on the following morning, the family went out to breakfast and her husband comments about his excitement over moving into the new house.  The client reports that she asked him how he slept the first night in the house and he had no complaints, responding "fine."  He does, however, report that something "odd" happened to him and further states that he feels awkward saying anything about it.  He then reports that he also experienced a similar phenomenon-waking in the evening and hearing little girls laughing and playing.  Like his wife, he believed his children were awake and playing and checks on them.  He finds the children asleep and then goes downstairs to see if the television was left on.  The television was off.  Still hearing the sounds he returns upstairs and when he reaches the bedroom, the sounds cease.  Both clients are skeptical and not really sure what to think about their similar experiences.  Two days later, the clients discover that the former tenant was known to have over 400 wind chimes, both inside and outside the house.

On March 3, 2006, the client's tenant, reportedly a heavy sleeper, was woken up in the middle of the night by, by what he refers to as "huge beams crashing," or "heavy doors slamming," repeatedly.  The sounds seem to emanate from the girl's bedroom in the main house.  The tenant's bedroom is positioned on the other side of the daughter's bedroom in the apartment in which he resides.  The clients report that the daughter's bedroom was formerly an extremely old barn that was formerly a tinsmith shop in the early 1800's and a few other, miscellaneous businesses throughout the years.  The tenant that made the complaint about the sounds is reported as being level-headed, responsible, hard-working, well-liked in the community, and extremely intelligent.  The tenant has no belief in spirits, ghosts, or the paranormal.  He listened to the sounds coming from the room, but believed that the client's husband has decided to do some late night renovations.  At the time that the tenant reported hearing the sounds, the client's husband was asleep.  No one in the client's household heard any of the sounds that the tenant reported hearing (reporting that he heard the sounds two days after the incident)-sounds that lasted a good twenty minutes in duration. 

March 4, 2006, the client remarks that the evening was extremely windy.  The family went to bed relatively early, around 8:30 in the evening.  The girl's are still sleeping on the inflatable mattress in the parent's room while they wait for renovations to be completed in their room.  Both of the adult clients are woken up by a huge crashing sound emanating from within the house.  Their first thoughts are that someone is attempting to break in or that a tree branch or a large piece of ice has fallen off and landed on the roof of the home.  When they find nothing that could have produced the sound, the adult's write it off to natural origins and return to bed.  Interestingly, neither the children nor the dogs are disturbed by the sounds and they remain sleeping during the incident.  The client then reports that the sound returned again, just two minutes later and the sound occurred a good 40 times, approximately every 30 seconds...  Each time the sound occurred it sounded like doors slamming within the house and every occurrence sounded like a different location within the house's interior.  The entire home shudders with each forceful sound-as if someone is slamming a door with all of their might.  The client has no logical explanation for this occurrence.  The renovations of the home included new doors and windows and every hole was sealed and insulated. The walls were rebuilt and the staircases were moved during renovations and the home is solid-no drafts and no creaking.  The interior doors are on magnetic catches and can not open or close without some force applied. 

The couple lay in bed listening to the sounds, to terrified to investigate.  At one time, the couple could hear the slamming noises all around their children sleeping on the floor-the children and dogs never awoke during this event.  The husband finally decides to get up and investigate.  He reaches the bedroom door and the sounds stop instantly.  The husband goes downstairs, walks around the interior and the exterior of the home and finds nothing out of place.  All of the doors in the home appear untouched.  The house is quiet.  The husband is downstairs for a period of about five minutes.

While the husband investigates the downstairs of the location for the source of the strange sounds he experiences, the wife remains upstairs with the children.  Suddenly, the wife feels like she is not alone and reports feeling a presence at the end of the bed.  She looks toward the end of the bed and sees a child-sized dark figure.  She assumes that it may be one of her children or a dog.  She looks to the daughters and animals and finds them still asleep.  She then returns her gaze to the figure and watches it move "super fast," as it darts under the bed; faster than a dog or child could move.  The husband returns upstairs and the minute he enters the room, the slamming noises return.  He gets into bed with his wife and they lay there for about a half hour until the sounds cease.  The couple remained in bed for the remainder of the night, unable to sleep.

Several days later the couple is woken up in the middle of the night by one of their children.  The five year-old girl is found standing in the middle of the parent's room and, in a terrified voice, screaming, "NO, NO, NO-STAY AWAY!"  The child is backing herself into a corner with her arms outstretched-utterly frightened of what she is seeing.  Her father jumps out of bed and grabs her, putting her between him and his wife to comfort her.  The couple is unsure if she was experiencing a night terror or a nightmare and agree that the incident is peculiar and certainly out of the ordinary.

On March 5, 2006 while conversing with the tenant on the front porch, the tenant tells the client about the sounds he heard two days before, coming from the girl's bedroom.  The client advises the tenant that she did not hear noises two days ago, but did hear similar noises last night. The tenant reports hearing nothing on the evening of March 4.

Later that week the client decides to conduct some Internet research and she performs a sage clearing ritual.  The client went from one room to the next and asked the spirits to stop frightening the household members and to simply leave her family alone.  She respectfully explained that her family was nice and that they wanted to feel safe and comfortable in the home.  The client reported that she felt awkward conducting a sage clearing because it is not something she has ever done before.  The client reports that she does not attend church on a regular basis and that she has no particular interest in "organized religion."  She did speak with a local minister and let him know what was happening in the home.   Two ministers, with permission of the client, came to home and performed a house blessing, asking the spirits to leave the earthly realm.

After the house blessing, the house is quiet for several weeks.  The family is relieved and convinced that they can carry on with their life peacefully. Then, during the week, while the children are in school, the adults begin to hear the mud room door opening a few times.  They would check on the door, only to find it locked and closed.  This upsets the couple a bit, but they try to write off the occurrence to mundane causes.

On Sunday, April 30, 2006, the couple clean the entire house and go out to complete some errands. There daughters are with them and the house is empty except for the animals.  When the family returns home several hours later they find the dogs acting totally out of character.  The dogs are found hiding in the corner of the living room and they refuse to willingly come out of the corner.  Usually outgoing and super friendly, the two black labs had to be physically pulled out of the corner by the owners in order for them to move at all.  The family also noted that all of the girl's outside toys, including a bicycle, a tricycle, a scooter and two helmets-toys that are always in the same corner of the family room-have been moved about 40 feet to the front living room.  What makes this even more unusual is that there is no way that the animals could have moved the toys-they are both too heavy and there is a step up from the family room to the kitchen, making it impossible for the dogs to drag the toys from one room to the next.

Monday, May 1, 2006, the client is upstairs reading bedtime stories to her two daughters.  Her oldest daughter tells her that she feels sick and she vomits.  The mother decides to sleep close to the child to keep an eye on her and she takes the child into the master bedroom.  The husband than takes the child's bed in the child's room and sleeps there so that the mother can closely watch their sick child.  Both the mother and the child sleep through the night with no further disturbances.  Her sister, in her room in her own bed, sleeps through the night as well.

At 6 am, the adult female client awakens and gets ready to go to work.  The husband hears that she is awake and asks her to speak with him for a minute.  He then conveys the following:

I was sleeping on my stomach (he always does this) and was woken up in the middle of the night (while sleeping in Grace's queen size bed) by a nudge to my shoulder, the feeling of a huge presence behind me and the sound of two little girls giggling and whispering.  I remained on my stomach because I am afraid to turn over and see something.

The little girls lean over and whisper:  "Where is she?  She's not here". 

I say:  "please leave us alone". 

The girls whisper:  "Where is Grace?" 

I say:  "Grace is sick and with her mother - please leave her alone". 

The girls say:  "But we want to play" and they hop up on the bed I am laying on and start jumping around. 

I am scared and say:  "Who are you and what are your names?" and the girls whisper over and over again:  "My name is" but I can not hear what their names are. 

They continue jumping on the bed and I say:  "please leave me alone, I don't want to play" and they pull the covers completely taut over my body so that I cannot move.  I get very scared and firmly say:  "You're scaring me, please stop" and they stop.  I think they left at this point.  I stayed awake the rest of the night and would not turn over for fear of what I would see."
 
When the wife heard this, she was convinced it was some sort of dream - the husband was emphatic that it was not. The client surmised, knowing a bit about psychology, that he might have been experiencing sleep paralysis. 

On May 3, 2006, the female client was on her front porch, again talking to their tenant when he returned home from work.  The tenant then reported that on the prior Monday evening he heard sounds coming from the girls room that sounded like little girls dancing, playing, giggling and singing-the same evening the husband had his experience.  The tenant noted the time to be 12 am because he was on the phone with his girlfriend at the time.  He remarked that he was surprised to hear the girls up at that time of night.  The client advised the tenant that both of her girls were sleeping at the time.

Later that night the female client was tucking her girls into bed.  The oldest girl mentioned that she hoped the fairies would come back to visit her another time.  The mother asked the child to explain what she was talking about and the child stated that two fairies had visited her at night a few days earlier:

I said:  "Wow, what a neat dream" and she corrected me and said "no, it wasn't a dream, they were sitting on my bed".  I asked her how she met them and she said that they woke her up by wiggling her nose and then they told her that they wanted to play because they were lonely.  They said that their mother and father died in a fire and that they live outside our house.  They also said that her great grandmother and great grandfather (all of whom died over a decade ago) sent the fairies to her so that they could "talk" to her.  She said the fairies were very nice and the same age as her (5).  She said they were wearing white dresses and that they played "Ring Around The Rosie" and did a puzzle together - Grace rarely enjoys puzzles.  I asked her which puzzle and she said "my kitten puzzle".  I do recall seeing that puzzle on her floor one morning a few days earlier.  She said they will come back every night if it is ok with her to play. 

The following morning, the child told her mother that one of the fairies came back and lay down next to her the night before.  The mother asked if they had played and the child said no.  When the mother tried to question her further, the child did not want to discuss it any further.  At this point, the mother decided to contact our team for further investigation and expressed both her concerns and fears:

"I know that when I tell people about this they probably think we are crazy.  It is sort of embarrassing but we just don't know what to do.  The whole thing is so foreign to us.  We have certainly never had any type of experience like this before.  We are worried now that they seem to actually be using our daughter's name, touching us, and talking to us."

The Interview:

Interview:  The interview was conducted by Case Manager, Tracey Pisano.  The client was quite thorough with their record keeping of the events.  The clients had different religious affiliations-the female adult was raised in an Episcopalian family, the husband in a Roman Catholic family, but neither attend church on a regular basis. 

The clients have never had any passing interest in the occult and have only begun learning about paranormal experiences since the onset of the strange events in their home.  No prior media has ever been involved and our team's visit was the first investigation by a paranormal investigative group. 

The owners have two dogs and one cat and they have been adversely affected by the incidents in the location.  The cat, since moving in, the moment the cat leaves the parents bedroom, it defecates in the children's bedroom, on the oldest daughter's bed.  The owners found this behavior out of the ordinary and clearly unacceptable and took the cat to the vet to be checked out.  The cat is 1 ½ years old and the owner was concerned for its health.  The vet gave the cat a clean bill of health.  The dogs have been upset in the incidents cited in the "History of Occurences."

The clients wanted their children to be excited about living in the location and told the girls that the house had a nice history, that people lived there before and fell and love and got married, may have had children.  One day, the oldest daughter approached her mother and said, "You know how our house is really old? Well, do you think kids ever lived here?"  This question was posed after hearing the sounds of the little girls playing at night.  The mother said, "Yes, I believe they did.  Do you think they were two boys or little girls?"  The child responded, "I think they were two little girls."  The mother then asked, "Oh, have you ever seen them before?" and the child responded affirmatively.  The mother continued to question the child and she asked, "What do you think they are?" and the child responded.  "They're like angels."  This statement was followed by the mother's questioning, and the child revealed that one of the girls had "wiggled her nose while she was sleeping, and told her that they were lonely, that they used to live there, their parents had died in a fire (the father was trying to save the mother) and wanted to play.

The clients have never noted strange odors, but have heard strange sounds, as revealed in the history of occurrences.  All of the members of the household and the client's tenant heard the sound of two little girls laughing, giggling and playing, as well as the unexplained slamming of doors and banging. The previous owner lived in the location for 34 years and died of cancer around the age of 50.  She has two daughters, reportedly still living. 

The client reveals that the home has a rich history, and it was one time a boarding house for Civil War soldiers.  The barn was at one time a tinsmith shop, and other businesses.

The Investigation Process:

The team arrives at the location and sets up the equipment.  Equipment used during the process of investigation includes: Three digital cameras, two video cameras, tape recorder, infrared thermometer, digital thermometer, electromagnetic field detector, security camera, laptop, and a pendulum for dowsing.  During the investigation process, the team learns that the neighboring, vacant location was once owned by the same family that owns the home in which activity is occuring.  The team receives permission to investigate both locations.

Special Notes: The team notes that the house is under heavy renovation and will therefore not debate any orb captures if discovered. 

Photographs:  Several anomalies are captured in photos.  In the vacant location, in the basement, several light anomalies are captured of unexplained origin.  Further, in the main location, a partial apparition of a woman is captured in the master bedroom: just two days prior to the clients witnessing a woman appear on the stairs of the location, as well as in the master bedroom.  The client knew nothing of our findings at the time, as the evidence was released some two days after there initial experience with the female apparition.  We also have a photo of the charred remains of a beam in the vacant location-indicating a fire has occurred.  Interestingly, one of the children of our client has stated that the parents of the spirits that visit her, died in a fire.  Finally, we have several photos of some of the old photographs that were found in the trusses of the location, after it was purchased: one of the photos looks similar to the female apparition captured in the master bedroom. 

Our team confirms that one of the photographs found in the trusses of the home is of  Civil War soldiers.  The photo consists of the following individuals and was taken in 1907 in Chester Vermont, at the home of Davidson Barr during a 50th anniversary. They are the Postwar Grand Army of the Republic, Henry G.A.R. Post number 27, Chester Veterans of Gettysburg and Andersonville. The photo is of (Back row) Jesse Parkhurst, Rev. Henry Crocker, Deacon Henry Bond, Daniel Davis, Levi Bosworth, Luman Ballou, Alvah Learned, Albin Thompson, an unidentified individual, Davidson Barr, Alfred Archer, Clinton Willard, and Hugh Henry.  For a detailed explanation of who these individuals are: please feel free to visit the following website at your leisure: http://vermontcivilwar.org/pw/gar/chester.php

Want to view the photos associated with this investigation, CLICK HERE.

EMF Readings:  No electromagnetic field disturbances were noted, either at the main location or the subsequent vacant, neighboring location.

Temperature Fluctuations:  During the course of the investigation, the temperature in the newly renovated home remained ten degrees cooler upstairs than it did downstairs during the entire time we were at the location.  This proved interesting considering that that heat rises and the client noted that it was unusual for it to be cooler upstairs in the home.  It was 75 degrees upstairs and 85 degrees downstairs, respectively.

Video Captures:  There was nothing revealed on video evidence.

Psychic Findings and Experiences:

Lauren reports feeling tightness in her chest and nausea, especially when standing between the seating area and the dining room table.  Also, has a clairaudient experience that entails hearing "Why are you here?" and "We are not your friends" in the living room.  After using psychometry on a photo found in the rafters of the home (which includes 6 old men and two young girls, guessed to be dated approximately between 1910 and 1920), the investigator placed her hands over the photograph and finds that it is cool over the images of the older men, but warm as if in sunlight when her hand is over the two girls in the photograph.  This experience was later followed by another clairaudient experience: the female investigator hears, "I told you to go away."  "No closer…" while standing near the barn door beneath the daughter's bedroom.  The family dog is tied up outside of the barn doors and does not want to let any of the investigators go near it. 

An investigator's right shoulder blade hurts for the duration of twenty minutes, especially when approaching the children's belongings.  In the adjacent, vacant building, previously owned by the same family that once owned our client's current location, in the bedroom at the back right end of the first half of the house, Pat gets feelings of a formerly suicidal presence.  Another investigator feels that this presence may have been looking out the window in the back.   Pat and the investigator both get serious head pain:  Pat experiences pain in the temple, and Lauren experiences pain in her forehead and right eye.  While still in the vacant location, Pat begins to have chest pains and her camera begins to malfunction.  Lauren enters the room to take photos and feels seriously nauseated and dizzy. 

Interestingly, several of our investigators note that there are charred beams in the back area of the vacant location, indicating that there was once a fire that produced quite a bit of damage to the back of the location. 

After returning to the clients neighboring home, Lauren has a clairaudient experience:  "Are you Mom?" flashes in her mind.  A few minutes later, an investigator experiences an unexplainable, pulsating pain in her left ear.  Several of our investigators experienced the feeling of oppression, both in the master bedroom and the child's bedroom of the main location.  The oppression was sometimes overwhelming in the vacant location-feelings of confusion and negativity were throughout the location.  One of our investigators felt the presence of something that suggested sadness and suicidal thoughts.  The suicide can neither be confirmed nor denied at this time.

Erin, our investigator performing pendulum readings, notes a great deal of pendulum activity at the northwest corner of the house before the shed.  The shed is situated just beneath the children's bedroom.  She also notes a tremendous amount of pendulum activity near the fairy figurines in the girl's bedroom.  Erin, at one point, also hears a shout from upstairs when no one is in the upstairs of the main location.

Investigator Seth hears, "get out!" and "why are you here?" while near the bathroom in the main location, especially near an unusual mask on the wall and Erin notes warm pulsing on the floor near the side of the sink.  Evps do match this experience.

Shortly after our team's arrival, a child's toy, a motion activated cat that meows and purrs, went off without any motion setting it off.  Investigator Dayna, picks up the toy and the toy shuts of.  Dayna attempts to make the toy work, it will not.  Dayna replaces the toy where it was, on the floor in the girl's bedroom.  The toy starts working again and does not shut off for the remainder of our investigation, even when no motion is available to activate the toy.  As we note the toy going off by itself, something falls in the closet.  When the closet is checked, nothing is out of place.

Investigator Justyn Stately, team clairsentient, notes negative, sad feelings in the master bedroom of the main location.  It is Justyn that is in the photo where the partial apparition of a woman appears, looking forlorn and sad.  During the cleansing, one of our investigators sensed the presence of a woman: "a woman in a black dress."

Psychic sketch artist, Angela Kaufmann makes several notes on her sketches during the process of investigation.  One note reads "I'm not dead" and an evp matches this intuitive capture.  Another intuitive notation reads, "I am angry" and an evp matches this capture.  The most striking sketch, partially inspired by some of the artwork in the home, reveals a female with her mouth covered by another subject, marked with the following text, "They don't know anything."  This matches an evp capture in the vacant location which states "No words…everybody…who are they?"

Case manager, Tracey Pisano, was touched twice by something unexplained.  When she announced that she was touched by something, an evp is captured saying, "I did…I did."

EVP findings: A total of 40 evps are captured between the current location and the vacant location once owned by the same family.  Evps range from A to C classification and are of men, women and children.  We have captured the voice of a child, confirming that there is spirit activity pertaining to children.  At one point, one of our investigators questions, "Have you told the girls that you are fairies?"  A response is received in a child's voice, "Fairies."  Evps of growling, and numerous interactive evps are captured.  To listen to the EVPs associated with this case, CLICK HERE.

Conclusions:  Location Haunted.

While still at the location, our team performed a cleansing. We have since contacted the client and advised of our findings: evidence of interactive spirits consisting of photos, our own personal experiences on the location and numerous evps.  The clients are relieved that their experiences are confirmed, but not relieved that their experiences are of paranormal origin.  We will remain in contact with the clients and continue to help them in every way that we possibly can. Unfortunately, at this time, activity still continues…


UPDATE:  TAPS, The Atlantic Paranormal Society, did a follow up investigation at the location which was aired on October 25, 2006.  They confirmed the haunting and found two evps of a child's voice.  They also announced that a little boy had died at the location.  Currently, the house remains active.




                                                                                
Apparition Capture
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