Lights Out Paranormal Research Team
Everyone Has a Story
This investigation is featured in the "Closet of Horror" episode of Animal Planet's
This one has been a long time in the making. We investigated this house in early April of 2009 and had a great investigation. But since we've been there, more and more stories have come out. The one that drew us back again was a room that we didn't investigate last time that one of the residents now tells us he has always been afraid of. Armed with some new faces and with the help of our friend, Psychic/medium Lauri Moore, we returned on a cold, windy winter's night in early January 2010.
The Investigation
The equipment set up and walk thru went flawlessly. Investigator Tom Onusconich really stepped up on the technical end of things while Anthony Newhart and Zach O'Hawk took charge of the video system. We had cameras placed perfectly, stationary recorders where they needed to be, and our manipulation objects all set out.
As usual, the night began with the walk-thru. In this case, we enlisted the help of team member and psychic/medium Lauri Moore and her niece Carmi Gubbiotti, a sensitive enjoying her first experience in the field. During the tour of the location, they each picked up on the energy of 2 spirits. One was a man named Jacob (or Jake) who stayed in the attic. The other was a young man, who both Lauri and Carmi determined to be mentally challenged, that resided in a closet on the second floor that used to be a bedroom. Following the leads given to us by our psychic duo, we set out on our investigation.
Right from the start things seemed to be active. Lauri experienced very strange EMF readings in the living room, almost mimicking the actions of a cat. Jim, Tom, and Zach also had one of our Cell Sensor EMF detectors blink in response to questions asked, footage that is also featured in "Horror in the Closet" episode of The Haunted...
Knocking sounds and seeing flashes of light were also experienced thought the investigation. One of the cooler personal experiences was captured in the 2nd floor hallway. During our investigation of a bedroom at the top of the steps, co-founder Chris LaBarge heard footsteps that seemed to climb the stairs to the 2nd floor and continue up to the attic. During evidence review we were able to locate the audio of this event:
All in all, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and put forth a great effort to get these homeowners some explanations for the things they experience.
Evidence Review
Its not very often that we get compelling video evidence, but this case was anything but ordinary. In addition to the EMF activity clip above, we also pulled the following from our hours of video footage:
VIDEO
The first is footage taken with our IR camera system. At one point, this camera seems to be jostled by something small. It was sitting on top of a cabinet in the kitchen all night, about 6 feel in the air. After thinking that we interacted with a feline spirit earlier in the night, we found this interesting
Next, we also found this orb on the IR camera system. Normally, we dismiss orbs pretty easily, but this one seems to meander up the stairs and then dart up to the 2nd floor from the landing.
And the final video clip is the one that prompted us to contact The Haunted's producers in the first place. We had heard strange noises coming from a bureau in this bedroom. In case we came up with an explanation later, we filmed the contents of the cabinet. As Anthony panned up to it, we can hear a cat meowing in the audio. The owners do not own any cats which makes it tough to explain the noise away. Couple that with our earlier feline experiences and we were excited.
AUDIO
The other part of our review is obviously audio and we were not disappointed in this department either. Here are the clips we pulled from this investigation:
Our reviewers believe they heard someone whisper the word 'chicken' in this clip, which we saved because it sounded amusing to us. However, we learned in an interview with a 99-yr old former resident that chicken were slaughtered in the room next to where this was recorded.
We captured what sounds like a voice whispering the name 'Jim' in this clip. The interesting part is that its the names of both the homeowner and one of co-founders, who was in the room at the time.
This clip documents what sounds like a positive response as Jim Willing tries to elicit communications with any spirits present and co-operative.
We also found what we think is another positive response when asked if the spirit has a German name.
This clip, featured in "Horror in the Closet" episode of The Haunted, was also recorded in the kitchen. We think it sounds like a child almost singing the words 'Can you hear me'. Given the details given to us by Lauri and Carmi about the spirit on the 2nd floor, you can justify our excitement.
Our Findings
Given the audio and video clips we produced and the details of our psychics' findings, we believe the location to be very active. After hours of research on the property, we found 2 people who matched the descriptions of the spirits provided by Lauri and Carmi. Many thinks go out to Mildred Kromer (a former resident of the house) and Franklin Mummey (our local historian) for their assistance in locating the names of Jacob Mack and Robert M.Berlin (the "Horror in the Closet" as he will be known from now on), the 2 gentlemen we believe to have been in attendance that night. Lauri successfully crossed Robert after we finished and allowed Jacob to stay behind to attend to unfinished business.
In the end, the residents got the answers they were looking for and have learned to peacefully coexist with Jacob. All in all, a VERY successful investigation indeed!
Date: 1/8/10
Time: 7PM - 2 AM
Investigators: Jim Willing, Chris LaBarge, Anthony Newhart, Tom Onusconich, Zach O'Hawk, Lauri Moore, Carmi Gubbiotti
Notes: The teams' first return investigation to a private residence. Last time we investigated here, we only had 3 working IR cameras. This investigation is featured in the "Horror in the Closet" episode of Animal Planet's The Haunted, Season 2.