A Haunting in Toledo

Private Toledo Residence

Investigation Date: August 18, 2012

Location:  somewhere in Toledo, Ohio

Investigation Conditions

Mean Temperature	64°f
Dew Point	47°f
Average Humidity	55
Precipitation	0.0 in.
Sea Level Pressure	29.99 in.
Wind	3 mph NNE
Moon	Waxing crescent 1%

Investigators

• Don C.
• Kelly S.
• Fred S.
• Ray W.

History and Claims

This two story home was built in 1923 in the midst of a thriving neighborhood. Our research of the home does not lead us to believe that there were any deaths on the property. Our client grew up in this home along with her sister and parents. Since they were children both she and her sister sensed something “off” about the home. There is no sense of fear as much as that of a feeling of sadness. Their father never mentioned seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary. Recently the father passed away and the client and certain neighbors have noticed an increase in unusual activity. Claims of unusual activity include creaking and or footsteps on the floor, in particular across the dining room floor. The family dog refuses to go into the basement and sometimes sits and stares at things that are seemingly not there. The resident also feels a sensation of being watched while in the home and is uncomfortable being in the upstairs area alone. She has been wary of the upstairs since she was a child. The resident is not the only one experiencing things at this home. Both the client and the neighbors have heard banging and noises from within the home both day and night. Neighbors have heard doors closing and “clanking” noises during the night. One neighbor reports hearing a tapping at one of the driveway-side windows as he worked out in his yard. Voices and whispering have also been heard in the home but were not loud enough to be comprehensible. Intrigued by the activity in the home, the client and her brother in law set up an experiment. They placed a small ball on the floor to see if it would move. Several days went by with no movement. They picked up the ball and placed it on top of an organ in the dining room. It remained for several days until one day it was found to have moved. The ball had found its way from off of the organ and onto the bathroom floor. This is no small feat as the bathroom is 24 feet away around a corner and is separated by a carpeted hallway. The homeowner hopes to either explain or disprove her and the neighbors’ experiences with the help of Fringe Paranormal.

Investigation

The team arrived at its Toledo home at 7:30 pm. After a brief tour of the premises and a talk with the homeowner to review facts about this case we began to set up equipment. We used our DVR system with four night vision cameras. One camera was stationed to record the dining room, kitchen, and stairway area; another captured one of the bedrooms; a third captured the same bedroom and another and the hallway between them; the last camera was stationed upstairs to capture a bedroom and the stairway from coming up from the first floor. We used two stationary audio recorders both upstairs and downstairs. Fringe agents also carried roaming audio recorders with them which were kept running throughout the investigation. We placed a small ball on top of the organ to simulate the experiment previously performed by the homeowner. A larger inflatable ball was positioned in one of the downstairs carpeted bedrooms. The Fringe team was split into two units for the evening. Don and Ray comprised one unit and Kelly and Fred the other.

The investigation began with Ray and Don upstairs. Not long after we began at about 9:15 Don heard what sounded like squeaking or footsteps upstairs. A call down to Kelly and Fred confirmed that they were not responsible for the noise. Other than this nothing unusual occurred upstairs. There was quite a bit of unexplained activity downstairs however. Kelly and Fred noticed the KII meter reading levels 2 and 3 off and on throughout the evening. Kelly reports goosebumps and butterflies upon entering the dining room after KII hits in the living room. Both agents also heard a bang and other noises issuing from the kitchen. As the DVR system monitor was stationed downstairs in the dining room it was possible to view the cameras throughout the evening. At one point Fred noticed something and called Don and Ray downstairs. Watching the video we noticed what appeared to be a green light of some sort fading in and then out against a dining room wall. The anomaly was against a wall but behind a floor fan which was about six inches away from the wall. It appeared to move from right to left and the entire affair took all of three seconds or so. The team was enthralled at the prospect of recording some possible evidence. For the remainder of the evening the Fringe team investigated downstairs together. At one point late in the evening Don and Fred heard what sounded like humming. Don thought it sounded like it was coming from inside the home and was very faint. Shortly thereafter, the team stopped the investigation for the evening.

Analysis

Our analysis begins with the client’s feelings of unease in the home. It is possible this is due to high levels of electromagnetic fields as we did get excess readings in certain areas. This combined with the other unexplained activity of late could exacerbate the client’s reluctance to enter the upper floor unaccompanied. However, we must keep in mind that the client has had such feelings since living in the home as a child. The strange green light captured on video was the most intriguing occurrence of the night. While the team was thrilled at the prospect of obtaining some amazing evidence, we knew we had to think objectively and try to find natural explanations for this phenomena. It wasn’t long before we were able to do so. Agent Fred remembered having shone his flashlight towards the dining room at around the same time as the strange green light appeared in the video. Experimentation with a flashlight revealed that it could mimic the movement exhibited on video. We also discovered that cameras utilizing infrared technology will show white light as green on video.

As Fringe members were the only ones in the home during the investigation we could not explain the noises in the kitchen. We also have no explanation for the footsteps heard upstairs or the humming heard in the living room area. The hits on the KII meter may or may not be significant. More research is needed on the science of the KII meter by this team before we can use its readings as any sort of corroborating evidence.

Conclusion

Our investigation produced quite a few interesting results. We were able to obtain several EVPs. Some of the things heard by the Fringe agents could not be heard well on audio and so must be classified as personal experiences rather than evidence. As always we continue to learn from each investigation. In this case we learned that one must always be willing to keep an open yet critical mind. Sometimes the technology we find valuable to investigate the unknown can provide us with false leads. That said, while we were able to explain or find possible explanations for some events in this home, there were things we simply could not explain. While we never classify a location as haunted we can say that we believe the claims of the homeowner. We believe there is some type of unexplained activity occurring in the home and would merit more investigation.

Listen to the North Toledo residence audio on our Evidence page

Prepared for Fringe Paranormal by Don C.