Paranormal Investigation: Greene County, New York - 2007

• Site Type: Private Residence
  
• Location: Greene County, New York
  
• Date: June 24, 2007
  
• Client Status: Anonymous
  

Case Report

June 24, 2007 ~ The ISIS team set out to investigate a location in Greene County, New York after receiving a referral from the New York Pennsylvania Paranormal Society. The clients contacted NYPAPs with reports of activity and the complaint included doors opening and closing without explanation, toys moving by themselves, distant, angry sounding, unexplained male voices heard on occasion, loud mumbling seemingly coming from other rooms when no one was present, and the smell of cigarette smoke when no one smokes inside the location. The client’s children have also reported seeing apparitions, and hearing unexplained voices. Further, there are reports of seeing unexplained shadows and the clients have seen the apparition of a male leaving the breezeway of the location. The main reason the client contacted a paranormal group for assistance was to determine what exactly was going on in the home, what was responsible, and why such events are happening.

Interview

The clients, a fifty-one-year-old female and her mother-in-law as well as two children, recently moved into the Greene County home in September of 2006, and having lived at the location for a year’s time, have noticed unusual activity. The clients desire anonymity and we will therefore refer to the two women with fictitious names: Amanda and Nancy, respectively.

There has been at least one owner of the location and Nancy believes that the home was built in 1965. Once frequent paranormal activity was detected, Amanda went to the local Church to request assistance with the ongoing issues. Help was not immediately provided. In fact, the clergy contacted did not take Amanda seriously and suggested that she “was subletting,” and offered no further assistance at that time. After complaining again, Amanda was given holy water to use in the home and she used it in May of 2007. It provided no relief and the house has never been officially blessed by any member of the clergy. Amanda has Catholic religious affiliations and she believes that when someone dies the physical body passes on but that the soul continues on, going to wherever it wants to be.

Prior to moving to the location, Nancy revealed that her brother in law passed away, in November of 2006, and that her father in law had passed away two years prior to the death of her brother in law. Nancy explained to us that she had experienced paranormal activity in her former location, before moving in with Amanda, and she inform our team that she received phone calls from her dead husband every year, on the same day, at the same time, for a period of five years. On October 23 at six p.m. Nancy would receive a phone call from her dead husband, who would ask about the children and how the family was doing. Nancy thought, at first that the calls were a prank, and she asked where the individual on the other end of the line was calling from. The only response she would receive to the question was that “it was dark.” When the call would end, there was a bit of static on the line and the call would then disconnect. When the client remarried, the phantom calls ceased. The client went as far as to call the phone company to have the calls traced, but to no avail – the calls were untraceable. The phantom calls did not occur in the Greene County home under investigation by our team.

The clients have not conducted any formal research on the home or the land; however they did indicate that the former owner of the home had lived at the location for sixteen years. In total, the location has thirteen rooms’ three bedrooms, a kitchen, two bedrooms, a sunroom, a living room, dining area, and several rooms located in the downstairs of the location. The client has two school age children living in the home presently. The client has not made any renovations, but some repairs were made to the home prior to the client’s moving into it and the clients do intend to conduct more repairs and renovations in the future.

At one time, Nancy watched as a toy truck began working by itself. On another occasion, Nancy saw a toy top start spinning by itself. Meanwhile, Amanda reported seeing a man leave her breezeway, walking from the house to the road and disappearing. Amanda described the man as an individual with a beige jacket with black wavy hair combed back. The man looked to be roughly forty or fifty years old. On another occasion, Amanda saw a shadowy apparition walking across her front lawn.

Amanda believes that the last owner of the home died at the location of a heart attack. According to Amanda, the woman was found in the home deceased, in a hallway outside the living room. The woman was described as a thin woman, one that was quite friendly. The former homeowner was also reported to be a heavy smoker. Amanda’s daughter Christine reports smelling cigarette smoke when no one smokes in the home.

Amanda also notes more activity during times of stress and cites a new job as the source of her stress. Amanda maintains an interest in paranormal television shows and holds an interest in paranormal subjects. No one in the house takes any medications and no one partakes in illegal drugs or drinks alcohol.

The clients report no sleep disorders like insomnia but they do report the occasional nightmare. Nancy has occasional nightmares about death and fire. No one in the household has ever experienced sleep paralysis or psychic sleep events. Night terrors have never been experienced by any member of the household.

No one in the household has had experiences with automatic writing. Nancy reports hearing angry voices in the home when no one is there. Often times the sounds are muffled and cannot be understood, however, on one occasion, Nancy clearly heard a male voice yell “Shut the f@#k up” when she was alone in the home. The voices came from the master bedroom of the home.

When discussing with Amanda if she ever had an interest in paranormal or occult subjects, she revealed that she at one time had a friend that was into the darker aspects of the occult, and she states that she has not seen the individual in quite some time. Amanda formerly owned an Ouija Board; one made by Milton Bradley. She reports dabbling with the board a couple of times and it “bothered her” so she stored the board away in her mother’s basement on a shelf. The latter mentioned associate interested in the “darker aspects” of the occult asked Amanda if she could have the board. Since Amanda no longer bothered with the board, she freely gave it to her. Amanda states that the friend that she gave the board to had the board no more than 24 hours when she had tripped, fallen on the board and cracked it in half, destroying the board. Amanda states that there was no increase in activity around her at the time that the board was used or given away and broken.

Amanda reports having paranormal experiences in other locations besides the current one in her later life: Amanda had an attic apartment in another town and she had a friend stay over one evening. Her friend woke up several times during the night and advised Amanda that they were not alone and that someone was in the home with them. Amanda’s friend stated that she kept hearing someone walking around the apartment, but Amanda did not hear the noises that her friend did. Several months later, Amanda noted objects moving by themselves without explanation, and one evening her bed started shaking violently. A crucifix on the wall flew off the wall on more than one occasion. When the crucifix finally broke, Amanda replaced it with another, which produced the same outcome.

Amanda’s friend had a boyfriend from Haiti. Frightened and not knowing what else to do, Amanda reports speaking to him about what she could do about the situation at her apartment. He advised her to boil Rosemary – willing to try anything – she followed his instructions. The bed started shaking violently, and tables and the furniture were shifting back and forth on the floor. When all of the chaos abruptly ceased the client reports being both intrigued and shocked. A couple of days pass without any further activity. Then, as Amanda prepared to take a shower one evening, she was pushed violently by an unseen force. Amanda begged whatever it was that was tormenting her to leave – no further activity at the apartment was noted. She has since moved from the location.

Amanda believes that she is a sensitive – she reports knowing things that will happen before they happen, and she finds her precognitive ability a bit unnerving at times. She has never been officially tested for psychic abilities. Amanda owns a number of antiques, one of them, a dresser, being stored down in the basement that formerly belonged to her mother. The clients have a total of seven cats and one dog. The cats show no sign of being disturbed, but Amanda reports that the dog occasionally behaves oddly.

The clients report no plumbing difficulties, no difficulties with appliances, and no unusual battery drainage. The clients do report hearing strange rappings and banging noises coming from the enclosed garage. Nancy reported that the car door opens by itself on occasion. The garage location is reported as having and maintaining a relatively cool temperature.

Amanda reports that her son “Neil” met a boy in his class named “Nicholas” and the two boys became friends. Amanda, being a concerned parent, wanted to get to know the boy’s parents so she called Nicholas’s parents to introduce herself. Interestingly, when Amanda and Nicholas’s mother began talking about where each of them lived, Nicholas’s mother revealed that she used to reside in the home currently under investigation. The conversation evolved and Nicholas’s mother revealed that her mother in law had died in the home. Two weeks later the two women got together: Nicholas’s mother came to visit Amanda at the home while the boys played. Nicholas’s mother became terribly ill and had to leave the location. No other mysterious illnesses have been reported.

Investigation:

Photographs:

No photos of paranormal activity were captured at this location.

Pendulum Activity:

Temperature Fluctuations:

Electromagnetic Field:

No disturbances noted.

Electronic Voice Phenomena:

Several EVPs were captured at the location: a total of nine EVPs are available in our EVP gallery, ranging from A to C. You can listen to the EVPs in the EVP gallery.

Video:

Difficulties with the video camera were experienced. At first, the battery was completely drained after being thoroughly charged before our arrival. After the camera was plugged into an outlet and was set up, when an investigator went to check on it the recorder was turned off and moved several inches from its original position – pointing at nothing more than a wall instead of the open room it was meant to record. The recorder was set up again and repositioned. No paranormal activity captured.

Psychic Sketches:

Angela Kaufman drew a sketch of a male with wavy dark hair that was combed back. Angela had no foreknowledge about the male apparition that the client saw in her breezeway as the interview was conducted after all other aspects of the investigation were completed. Angela also drew two sketches of an older woman, congruent with the female energies sensed by our investigators and also congruent with the fact that the prior owner of the location was an older woman that had died at the location.

Experiences:

Upon our arrival, two investigators leave the rest of the group in the kitchen to go and set up the video camera. Dayna states, “Let’s set it up right in the hallway, I sense this is the core of the activity here.” This thought was only shared with the other investigator helping to set up cameras and was not told to any of the other team members. At 1:53, Sathish writes in his notes that he felt that the heart of the activity was coming from the hallway. Sathish, using a pendulum, silently asked where the heart of the activity lies; the pendulum began swinging vigorously toward the hallway of the location. Sathish sensed an older woman with white hair, surmising that she was a little over five feet in height and that she was in the hallway facing the bathroom doorway. Notable pendulum activity was also noted in the hallway and in the bathroom doorway – several investigators witnessed the pendulum being pulled on. Later the client reveals that the former owner died and was found in that very spot: having no knowledge of our findings or our investigator’s notes.

While in the little girl’s room, Sathish senses a questioning spirit: “I hear a women’s voice asking us “who are you – why are you here?” This corresponds with EVPs that we captured at the location.

While investigating one of the children’s bedrooms, an investigator turned around to find a toy shark on the floor that was not present when the investigator entered the room.

Upon entering the basement an investigator sensed “a male presence.” Later, another investigator reports seeing the site of a male figure go by quickly and disappear in the same location.

While investigating the basement, one investigator notes feeling difficulty breathing near an antique dresser that is stored in the basement. This is the same location that the class A, somewhat aggressive EVP is captured, “We’re not leaving…we’re not going…..”

At 2:30 pm the client’s saw the dome light on in the vehicle in the garage. The car had not been opened by any investigator or the clients. When the team went out to the garage to verify the occurrence, the temperature had risen from a base temperature of 78.4 degrees to 108.9F. The air became immediately oppressive and heavy.

Conclusion: INCONCLUSIVE

While our investigators had experiences at the location and we managed to capture several EVPs, and temperature fluctuations, we do not feel that we have enough evidence to confirm or deny the existence of a haunting. This is not to say that the location is not haunted, but that our team does not feel that there is an enough evidence to make a conclusion at this time. We assured the client that we would remain in contact and help them if further assistance should be required.

Additional Evidence:

• View our Photo Gallery for paranormal photos associated with this case.
  
• View our EVP Gallery for Electronic Voice Phenomena captures associated with this case.

Acknowledgements:

Our team would like to take the time to give a special thanks to New York Pennsylvania Paranormal Society for referring the client to us.