Case Study: Haunted Illusionist (Part I)
We recently had the opportunity of meeting a wonderful young couple who had been experiencing activity in their home. They had initially contacted us through email and as soon as I read it I knew we had a very interesting case at hand.
[Original Email from Zach Oct 2011]
Hello,
About a year ago, my mother spoke with Kathi at the RPL about the fact that she was looking up previous owner information on the house she purchased in 2006. She and her husband (my x-step father) experienced some strange events (noises and odd feelings) while moving in, and the events would come and go. It was pretty much a joke in the family that the house was haunted, especially for me since I have been a major skeptic for as long as I can remember. Even though I had experienced unusual paranormal situations, and in the past several years have become very interested in a different paranormal subject, if asked, I would have probably said that I do not believe in ghosts.
A few years ago, while visiting my mom at the house, along with my family and sister’s family, a strange thing happened. A ball that was in her office, and belonged to one of the children came flying out of the office, yet no one was in it. That was the weirdest thing that I had seen occur in the house, but not the weirdest thing for my mom, apparently. I tried to come up with a “logical” reason as to why it would have happened, and just brushed it off…
A while back, Kathi had asked my mom if she wanted to have the house investigated, and she declined as nothing had happened for quite a while, and she was planning to purchase a condo and move out. After thinking about it, she offered me the house on a land contract. Since I didn’t believe there could be anything other rational reasons as to why the house seemed haunted in the past and nothing had happened for a while, we figured it was a great idea.
My family started to move in this past June, and immediately we started to have strange events occur.
There were strange banging sounds from time to time that were louder than normal “house noises”. A couple of them were during the day. This only went on for the first few weeks. It suddenly stopped.
A few weeks ago, this started back up again, but got even weirder…
Our 2 children sleep downstairs, and we are upstairs. After going to bed, and being there for about 10 minutes, we would hear one or two loud bangs as if someone punched a wall really hard. It startled us quite a bit, but we tried to shrug it off, and just joked that it was “Bob, the ghost”.
Well, last Thursday, was the strangest event of all, and made us decide we were going to contact you.
I work a day/night job, 2nd shift, so my girlfriend, Tina is home with the kids in the evening. At about 10:30 she heard someone using the front door knocker to knock on the door. The kids were in bed, asleep. She had all the curtains down and didn’t even look out the window to see if she could see anyone.
A half hour later, it happened again, but she also heard the mail slot being flipped up and down for a few seconds. She called 911, and the police arrived quickly and searched the area.
I got home at about 2am, and we went to bed at about 2:30.
Just minutes later, we heard the loudest BANG ever! It was as if someone tried to kick down the side door of the house. It actually rattled the house, probably to the point that if someone had kicked any door with that much force, it would have broken it.
Being that the knocking had occurred earlier, I assumed that someone was trying to break in or scare us for some reason. We jumped out of bed and I called 911. Several police arrived in about 3 minutes and searched all around the house. There was no sign of damage anywhere! No foot print on either door, or anything.
We have tried to reproduce that sound with both doors, and can’t come close, but those spots are the only 2 possible places I can imagine coming close to a sound like what we heard, although Tina thinks it sounded like the bang came from within our room.
The only other strange things have been that our cat acts a bit weird, which is not totally unusual… Also, two nights ago, I was in the downstairs bathroom, and as I was walking out, the faucet started to release water for just a moment, then I walked into the kitchen and the kitchen faucet did the same thing, just for a moment, as I looked at it. They started and stopped.
Please understand that I mean no offense when I say this, but it was very difficult for me to contact someone about this. I am a magician by trade, and you may or may not be aware that magicians are typically some of the biggest skeptics/cynics about the paranormal. The main reason is that Houdini tried very hard to reach his mother through spiritual mediums, and found that everyone he saw was a phony. People who I have looked up to most of my life, like James Randi & Penn and Teller are some of the leading debunkers of the paranormal, following in Houdini’s footsteps, but I have found them to be wrong on at least one paranormal topic, and I am quickly finding them to be wrong about this topic.
I will look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks for your time.
Zack
This case is definitly one of a kind. After conducting our investigation and historical research we found some VERY interesting facts to support the numerous claimes of activity in their home. We will follow up with further information in the coming weeks.
Ramblings and Ruminations: Old Ghost Bridge in Lincoln, Illinois
Have you ever taken a trip (drive or other forms of travel) where you set off for one kind of adventure and end up having a completely DIFFERENT kind?
Well, this is one of those stories. I set off for Central Illinois with my regular ghost adventure buddy, John Hoblit. We were returning from something (neither of us remembers exactly what) and decided to stop at Lincoln, Illinois where John’s father’s family hails from.
John had mentioned this road that leads to an abandoned bridge called “The Ghost Bridge”. Well, I, of course was up for that! John had done some research through a cousin of his named Leigh Henson and Troy Taylor’s website that talked about this bridge that was
located between two old cemeteries.
We arrive and find the gate that leads down this old road. ( The following picture is from John’s cousin, Leigh Henson). These are the kinds of places I LIVE for.
It is about a 10 minute walk (taking time to slap the mosquitoes!) the road winds through some pretty dense trees with a few clearings that show the fields that surround the area.
(This picture is from Leigh Henson’s site as well.)
So we come around the corner and there it is…the last remnants of this old bridge. Read the rest of this entry
Event at Willow Creek Farm! A MUST see!!
One of our favorite places to investigate is Willow Creek Farm in Shannon, IL. In fact, Willow Creek was THE first investigation that Bill,
Sara B, and myself had the opportunity to be apart of. This was our very first location and we have returned numerous times – as we like to refer to it as a “mega-haunting.” If you have ever met me face-to-face you have probably heard me talk about my most mind boggling paranormal experience as I distinctly began hearing Native American drumming and chanting at around 4:00 am at Willow Creek Farm. I could not explain this noise that seemed to be coming from my right side – no matter which direction I was facing.
Anyway, Al Kelchner, owner of Willow Creek Farms, is hosting an event called ” An Evening at Willow Creek Farm.” This is most definitely a MUST SEE if you are at all interested in the paranormal. Al is genuine individual who takes great pride in his farm as well as the spirits that reside there. This event will be produced by two excellent paranormal investigative teams, the Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee and Confidential Paranormal Investigators. Below is information about this event and links to various web pages. -Aaron P.
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October 15 – 6:00PM to 12:00AM
Come and join us at a major, haunted location for what we believe will be a unique event! On October 15, An Evening at Willow Creek Farm will be held for people to share experiences, information and stories about the paranormal. There will be presentations, area history, story-telling, a ghost hunt and a late evening EVP session to close the event.
Participants and presenters for the evening are:
- Edward F. Finch, Executive Director, Stephenson County Historical Museum,
- Noah Leigh, Founder of Paranormal Investigators Milwaukee,
- Kathy Richardson, Founder of Confidential Paranormal Investigators,
- Vangie Bolio, Paranormal photographer and ghost hunter,
- Stephen Osborne – Author,
- Barb and Beth Reittinger, Psychics.
A non-refundable fee of $50 per person must be received no later than October 7, 2011
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Willow Creek Farm [Official Website]
Rockford ParaCON 2011 – October 8, 2011
Please join us for our second annual Rockford ParaCon – a paranormal conference for those interested in all things of the supernatural.
Where: Rockford College – 5050 E STATE STREET ROCKFORD IL Grace Roper Longe
When: October 8th 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Admission: $15 in advanced or $20 at the door. Tickets can be purchased in advanced at the Rockford Public Library.
Numerous paranormal investigators will be there along with notable authors, speakers, owners of various haunted locations, and information about local haunted tours. We are extremely excited for this event. We are always pleased to meet new people who share a common passion for the paranormal.
More info regarding speakers and admission coming soon.
Ramblings and Ruminations: “tales of the weird and peculiar”
When one thinks of the library, they often call to mind long stacks of colorful bindings where tall, thin, darkly dressed women glide through putting away books and shushing patrons. That has not been my experience over the last 15 years of library work. (For those of you who have met me in person, you know I am neither tall nor thin and I am usually the one being shushed!)
I am very fortunate to wear many hats at the library and one reputation that I have inadvertently earned is the collector of the odd and unusual. The goddesses that work the Local History room come across some of these stories while researching things for people and always share them with me. I have tucked them away in a file but have decided that this would be a good place to share these tales of the weird and peculiar.
This story came from a Register Gazette article that appeared on August 22, 1908. The headline reads: Mystery at Winnebago. It seems that on this Tuesday morning, Sexton Joseph Dunkley and his assistant James Bouton were hard at work preparing a place to lay the newly departed Mrs. Bradshaw. They were both surprised and a little startled when they stuck the shovel in the dirt and heard a metallic clunking sound. They were only about a foot down so they continued to dig and unearthed the remains of what proved to be a corroded cracker tin such as the one pictured below:
One can only imagine the thoughts that were running through their minds as they pulled the tarnished box from the dirt. The article described the box “badly decayed only one side being in any state of preservation.”
Their greatest fears were realized when they opened the box and there looking back at them were the empty eye sockets of not one but three skulls!
The box also contained the “major portions of the larger bones of the human body, all of which were the bones of adult persons.” As if that wasn’t enough, there was also a black string necktie which it mentions is the “only clothing found”.
There was no more mentioned in this article- nothing to tell us what was done with the bones, where it was thought they might be from, or who they might have been. The last line only yielded another mystery. It mentioned “The Reflector suggests it is not likely to prove another Gunness affair.”
There was stated in such a manner that it implied that this was a name that the reader should know. This intrigued me enough that I again turned to my Local History sages where they declared that the name Gunness refers to a woman of the time period who is suspected of being a female serial killer!
Apparently, this Belle Gunness (who was later found to really be Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth), was believed to have killed over 40 men, women and children (including her own!) for money. Belle was at first believed to have been killed herself by a handy man that worked for her. The bodies of her two children and a decapitated woman’s corpse were found in the ashes of their LaPorte, Indiana home in February 1908. The handy man was found guilty of the arson but not the murder since he claimed that the body was not Belle Guinness but a woman that she had poisoned and put there as a “body double”, even though the woman was shorter and much thinner.
I will definitely be writing an article in the future to fill you in on all the sordid details! This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I find history so fascinating!
Kathi Kresol is the organizer of the Haunted Rockford Tours and Paranormal events through the Rockford Public Library. She is also a team member of the Forest City Paranormal Society. You may contact her at kkresol@rockfordpubliclibrary.org or 815-987-6682 for information on events or investigations.
Chicago Paranormal Meet & Greet – “Be there or be square”
This is a GREAT opportunity for those of you who are interested in learning more about the field of paranormal investigation. This is FREE event and there will be a lot of great people and investigators present. More than 20 paranormal groups from all over the area will be there hosting the event as well as notable authors and researchers. Therefore, if you are an investigator or simply ANYONE WITH THE SLIGHTEST interest – I HIGHLY recommend that you stop by and pay a visit.
The Chicago Paranormal Meet & Greet will take place on Saturday, August 20th, 2011 from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm (or later).The event will be held at Chet’s Melody Lounge – 7400 Archer Road, Justice, IL 60458.
You can be sure to find us – the Forest City Paranormal Society – at the event on Aug 20th.
Take Care,
FCPS
Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee & Paranormal Documentary
Since my move to Milwaukee about a year ago I had the opportunity to work with a local paranormal group in the Milwaukee area. Noah Leigh is the founder and lead investigator of the Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee (PIM). He and I met while investigating Willow Creek Farms in Shannon, Illinois just before I moved to Milwaukee for grad school.
Having been invited on a couple of their investigations it was easy to see that PIM took the paranormal seriously – making it their goal
to not only know everything their is to know about the way their equipment functions and why but also make sure they they are investigating in a logical and systematic way. They understand that the most important part of a single piece of evidence is not the evidence in itself but how they went about obtaining that piece of evidence and limiting the amount of potential error that may discredit that piece of evidence. For instance, PIM is a group that recently began using – what they like to call – “control recorders”. These are simply recorders that each investigators will have on their person at all times – no matter what. This is to prevent any confusion while reviewing the digital recorders. If you are an investigator you know you have been in a situation like this while reviewing evidence – “hey Bill – is this you singing again?” Rather than taking Bill’s word (although I do trust him) I can simply review his control recorder at that exact time during the investigation. I know in the past we have thrown out a lot of evidence because we thought that it might have been one of the investigators. This is a great idea and I think a lot of groups will benefit from using these recorders.
Soon after Noah and I met we began to brainstorm an idea for a documentary. This is something that I had always had an interest in doing. Of course, I know nothing about mass producing films and such so we agreed to simply make this an online documentary where everyone can watch on youtube/vimeo. So, throughout the past year I have been vigorously learning all that I can about cameras and audio to make this documentary look great. I have also interviewed numerous people in both PIM and FCPS as well as some local enthusiasts. Our purpose for this project is to simply show what investigating the paranormal is REALLY like. It’s not like what you see on t.v. I believe this information will get people to think about the way they investigation and encourage them to want to learn about being logical investigators. Know how your equipment works is crucial in understanding your data. This documentary will also give insight to those who are thinking about joining or even starting a paranormal group of their own. Whatever way you see it this documentary will be a tool for all paranormal enthusiasts.
The documentary will be released on both youtube and vimeo during the month of October 2011. Each Wednesday of the month we will release episodes ranging from why investigate the paranormal , what are sensitives and why?, types of equipment, and the final report.
The above video is a short equipment review that we did during our last investigation of the Brumder Mansion. This will give you an idea of what the documentary will be like. For those interested, they use Polaroid PDR400 recorders as our control recorders. These recorders record in .wav, have 2 GB built in memory with a miniSD card slot that is expandable up to 16 GB, has great stereo microphones, and of course USB connector. You can find these recorders for only $24.95. I highly recommend that your group invest in these recorders since they are cheap AND record in WAV.
Thanks again for stopping by our site!
Aaron Powers Co-founder of Forest City Paranormal Society
Ramblings & Ruminations: Irish Legend Pub and Restaurant
Irish Legend Pub and Restaurant
8933 S. Archer Avenue
Willow Springs, Illinois
This restaurant was called “The Stag’s Head Inn” when I visited it. I attended a séance with the Chicago area psychic Ed Shanahan. It was a great evening and I would definitely suggest attending one of Ed’s events if you get the chance. I have had him come to Rockford to hold séances for the Rockford Public Library.
The history of the Irish legend is long and violent, though it did not start out that way. Ed mentions in his article about the restaurant (www.hauntedamericantours.com) that Archer Avenue is said to be an old Native American trail. It also mentioned that during the “1890’s and early 1900’s Indian burial mounds were discovered throughout the villagers and destroyed by the early residents in the village.”
Settlers came to this area around 1854. The settlement grew even bigger when first the railroads and then canals were built. The bigger population brought bigger problems and soon gambling, alcohol, and prostitutes made their way into the once peaceful village.
Prohibition came to the United States and that brought a whole new breed of outlaw to the Willow Springs area. The village’s close proximity to Chicago made it appealing to the mobs and speakeasys popped up all over the area.
The Irish Legend claims to have been a speakeasy in its day. Many men breathed their last in here, lured by the promise of liquor and the company of fallen woman. The woman themselves led a tortured and desperate life- many fell victim to addiction themselves as they tried to escape their painful circumstances.
One of the stories tells of a forbidden love between one of the girls and a barkeep. The manager of the building found out about the two lovers and lured the unsuspecting bar tender to the basement stairs where he bashed his head in.
Another story which may or may not be the same woman -tells of the horrible death of one of the girls. She was supposedly beaten and wrapped in a carpet and set in the “dining area” for a few hours until it was dark enough to remove her body. Meanwhile, her body fluids seeped out onto the floor and the stain is still visible even today.
This is a picture of Ed Shanahan in the living room area on the second floor of the Irish legend.
As if the other stories are not bad enough, this picture shows the kitchen area including the closet where abortions were forced on the girls who had the extremely bad luck of conceiving while working at the house.
My visit to the Irish Legend was a very interesting one. I have to say that it really brought home to me that these ghost stories are not just entertainment. They are the stories of real people who were actualy a lot like us. They had hopes and dreams and those dreams were shattered by addiction or bad choices or by simply trusting the wrong person.
So just remember when you are out there searching for the next good scare- be careful and be respectful- because the ghost story I might be telling…could be yours.
Kathi Kresol is the organizer of the Haunted Rockford Tours and Paranormal events through the Rockford Public Library. She is also a team member of the Forest City Paranormal Society. You may contact her at kkresol@rockfordpubliclibrary.org or 815-987-6682 for information on events or investigations.
Paranormal Night At Camp Grant Museum
Saturday, September 24, 2011
7:00-10:00p.m.
1004 Samuelson Road
Rockford, Illinois
HistoricCampGrantMuseumand the Rockford Public Library are honored to offer a special paranormal evening at theCampGrantMuseumand Restaurant.
We will be joined by special guest, Mark Dorsett.
We will have exclusive access to this very unique location which will include a tour and a chance to experience this very active site. There is a $25.00 charge for this event to be paid at the door. The evening will include a full turkey dinner with all the trimm
ings.
Reservations are required:
Contact Kathi Kresol for reservations at 815-987-6682 or
by email at kkresol@rockfordpublic library.org
Ages 18 & up.
Paranormal Night At Midway Village Museum
HistoricMidwayVillageand the Rockford Public Library are honored to offer a special paranormal evening at theMidwayVillage. We will be joined by special guest, Spirit Communicator, Mark Dorsett. We will have exclusive access to this historic place which will include a tour and a chance this very active site. The price for this evening will be $10.00 per person to be paid at the door.
The Midway Village Museum
Friday, July 22, 2011
7:00p.m.- 10:00p.m.
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois
Please contact Kathi Kresol for reservations at
815-965-7606 ext. 682 or by email at kkresol@rockfordpubliclibrary.org
