There’s nothing better than a house in the country; lush landscapes, nature, wildlife…cemeteries. Do lost souls wander among the tombstones of a lonely cemetery on the grounds of this home occasionally stopping in to say “Hello”?
Investigation Date: April 5, 2014
Location: Defiance, Ohio
Investigators:
- Don
- Kelly
- Fred
- Renee
| Investigation Conditions | |
|---|---|
| Temperature °F | Avg. 42 High 51 Low 33 |
| Humidity | Avg. 59 Max 73 Min 32 |
| Barometric Pressure | 30.10 in. |
| Wind | 8 mph |
| Precipitation | 0.0 in. |
| Dew Point ºF | Avg. 26 High 29 Low 26 |
| Geomagnetic Field | Unsettled |
| Solar X-Rays | Active |
| Moon | Waxing crescent 37% of full Age 21% |
Equipment
- Digital voice recorder
- Surveillance system
- Hand held video cameras
- REM pods
- KII meters
Camera Placement
- Cam 1 – capturing front entrance and kitchen
- Cam 2 – Upstairs
- Cam 3 – living room
- Cam 4 – capturing office and master bedroom
- Cam 5 – capturing kitchen and office
History and claims
This two story home in Defiance was built in1900 and has its own small lake. A small, old cemetery dating from the mid to late 1800s sits on the rear acreage of the property. There is also a larger body of water not too far away from the location. Claims at this location consist mostly of auditory phenomena. Doors have been heard opening or closing as well as phantom footsteps. In one instance the homeowners smelled the aroma of fried chicken. They also claim that a swinging door leading into the laundry room has swung shut of its own accord.
Investigation
The Fringe team arrived in Defiance at 7:00 pm. Upon arrival we checked out the old cemetery on the rear of the property. Age had taken its toll as most of the headstones were either weathered and unreadable or broken off. Quite a few lay propped up against a nearby tree. The earliest burial dated back to 1841. Later research turned up a name for this small cemetery as well as a list of those buried. It is suspected that a number of canal workers are buried here after dieing from small pox. After inspecting the cemetery we entered the home to begin setting up equipment. As the team entered the kitchen Don heard what sounded like footsteps in the living room area. We had not yet placed our equipment so this was not caught on audio. The investigation officially began at around 8:15 pm. Early on Agent Fred experienced a chill. A few moments later the REM pod we had stationed in the master bedroom started activating. The pod sounded for 30 seconds to one minute. At that point we wondered if aging batteries might be responsible so we changed them out. The pod did sound again later in the evening. During our EVP sessions we utilized the KII meters and received a few hits. At 12:15 am Don and one of the homeowners (both were present during the evening) were upstairs while all other team members were downstairs. Both confirmed hearing a “bump” somewhere in the upstairs area. This was captured on audio. The next several hours were relatively quiet. The team stopped the investigation at around 2:00 am.
Analysis
We were able to find plenty of information on the cemetery on the rear portion of the property. We did not detect any evidence that might suggest a correlation with anyone interred there. The footsteps heard when we first entered the home must be classified as a personal experience as it was not captured on audio and was not heard by everyone on the team. Agent Fred was seated on a chair close to a window which might be a possible explanation for the cold spot he noticed. After we changed the batteries in the REM pod it did not activate again until later in the evening. This leaves us with two possibilities: either the aging batteries were responsible for the the REM pod sounding (we know this does happen in such instances) or perhaps some spectral agent was communicating via the device and moved on once we deactivated it to change out the batteries. We are inclined to believe the former explanation based upon our analysis of the video surveillance cameras. After studying the time stamp we determined that each sounding during the one minute period (about 20 or so) occurred in three second intervals. This precise pattern and the fact that the activation did not occur in response to any EVP question leads us to a natural explanation. The “bump” upstairs was heard by more than one person AND captured on a stationary recorder upstairs. The laundry room door is of the swinging cafe type and did not shut of its own accord while we were on the premises. We did note that there is a door leading upstairs adjacent to the laundry room. We wonder if it is possible that any opening or closing of this door could effect the cafe door.
Conclusion
Our evening at this location proved interesting. Activity seemed to be “sandwiched” so to speak. Activity at the beginning of the night, a period of silence, and activity at the end of the investigation. We captured some interesting audio and had a few experiences which lead us to think that there may be some sort of activity occurring in this home. At this time we can not say with certainty what the cause of that activity may be.
We hear what sounds like humming or singing at the 19 second mark
Prepared for Fringe Paranormal by Don C.
Fringe Paranormal 