A Federalist Treasure

First, my notes, exactly as I wrote them:
Hibbard House

James Room
Pink room feels masculine.  Older male scuffling across the floor. Weak legs, sickness, urinary issues?  Not as old as the house. Much more recent.

Rum Hill Room
Masculine energy.  Not too much going on.

Hibbard Room
Pneumonia female.  Older woman.  Movement in room. Hard to breathe.

Pierce Room
Movement, male, same male energy as downstairs. Cigars.

Kitchen
Movement, noise.  Slight Headache.  Left leg pain

Front left room
Cigars male energy, headache on top right of head.  I think I may be feeling this same energy from this room but it is transmuting thru the floor into the Pierce Room.

Front right room feels benign…at the moment.

Poker Room
Interesting energy.   Noticeable upon entry.  Nothing defined.

Dining Room
Being used by the owners and the Janets.  Feels like the people in it now, will have to go back.

Basement
Secrets…..
Shoulders/neck discomfort, restraint.

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I know nothing about a place I am about to investigate.  I  like going in completely blind and not being prejudiced beforehand, so I can walk around and write down what I feel, hear and see in my head. The notes above are just that.

On December 3rd, 2011 the New England Ghost Project rolled into the quiet town of Bath, NH and investigated the Hibbard House.  We were invited in by our hosts Rick and Tim who were very kind and hospitable.

After the investigation, we found out that the house was used as a gay social club in the 90’s, and AIDS patients would stay in the rooms upstairs,which explains the man with the sickness in the pink room, and the restraints in the basement.  The basement was used as a speak easy during Prohibition. During the investigation I heard a deep voiced man having a one sided conversation behind a closed door.

I was also told later by our host that Harry Hibbard was a lawyer who built this handsome federalist mansion for he and his wife Sarah to live in.  We were told he passed up a congressional seat to live in this mansion. He was very good friends with Franklin Pierce and Pierce would frequently visit.

Tim went on  to tell me that other people who have visited the house have encountered the smell of cigars. I did not smell the cigars during my walk through. I had a mental image of them in my head.

Harry became ill with a brain sickness and was sent to a mental hospital where he died while he was in his 50’s. This was the oddly placed headache in the front room I was experiencing. It was strange, the Pierce room is directly above the Front Left Room, and I couldn’t tell if I was reading the bottom floor in the Pierce room or the Pierce room from the bottom floor, but the energies felt the same in each.

I was told by our host that Mrs. Hibbard lived in the house some years after Harry died. I asked him how she died, and he didn’t know. I believe the woman with pneumonia is Mrs. Hibbard. Usually I feel the ailment from which people passed. On top of my lungs hurting, I started to physically wheeze. I wonder if she may have been an asthmatic.

I was aware of Mrs. Hibbard in the Hibbard Room. I  am convinced that she moves things and makes noises. While the team was investigating this room, a digital camera that was sitting on the bed turned on all by itself.  We heard whispers and saw shadow movement within the room.

The kitchen was an interesting area. Although there were no distinct energies that stood out, I sensed that the kitchen was not a quiet place. I feel cabinets may open and close, and movement may be heard.

In the Dining Room a glass swirling brought about a conversation with a male from the 90’s who frequented the social club. Because of a shockingly disturbing image that flashed  in a team member’s head, she abruptly took her finger of the glass, and then one of our hosts ran out of the room crying, overcome with emotion.  He returned visibly shaken, and had no idea why he was crying.  We explained to him that sometimes spirit will impress their emotions or feelings upon us.

It was a very interesting house, and a fantastic experience.  Hopefully someday I can make my way back to visit and spend more time in the Hibbard House.   It is definitely worth the trip!

Basement Bully

If you would like a truly haunted experience where paranormal activity is measurable on every floor, you must take a trip to the Haunted Victorian in Gardner, MA.  On the evening of November 5, 2011, a curious group of guests did just that.

Bundled up in coats and hats and gloves, the guests were split up into 3 groups and were led through the mansion by Ron Kolek,  Anne Kerrigan and  members of the NEGP team.  Clay Rucker and I led our first group to the 3rd floor.

K-2 and EMF meters were active right away as people made their way down the hallway past the small bathroom and toward the rooms that would prove to  be interesting.  We had interaction with a boy who answered some questions by lighting up the K-2 and manipulating dowsing rods, and the answers I was getting psychically were confirmed by Clay’s pendulum.  When the K-2 meters went silent, Clay would ask where I felt his energy.  I pointed out where I felt him, and the k-2s again lighted up as we found and followed him around the room.

In the last bedroom on the right we encountered another spirit.  He was a man who felt shameful.  I believe he was a son of S.K. Pierce, the original owner of the mansion and the furniture factory across the street.  He also interacted with the K-2 and EMF meters, as well as the iOvilus, dowsing rods and the Talker ITC.

The second floor was equally as active.  An interesting room on this floor is the Nanny’s room.  There is a spot on the floor, just to the right of the closet door where there is a noticeable energy change.  Each guest stood on the spot and each guest had a different experience.  Some guests felt nothing while others felt lighter, wobbly legged, dizzy or heavy.  We all noticed that as we stood in the Nanny’s room that we were all warming up.  It was a steady 48 degrees in the mansion, but in this room our hands and feet were noticeably warmer and there was a warm spot next to a teen-aged member of our group.  The digital thermometer confirmed the rise in temperature with reading into the 50s.  The Nanny must have been taking care our teen guest.

We also experienced a variety of energies in the master bedroom.  I first picked up  on a woman. I could feel my left ovary and part of my uterus.  I believe she passed in the house, and because of the symptoms I experienced, I think she died of ovarian or uterine cancer.  It may have been another cancer, that had metastasized to these areas.  We had a member of our group who was visited by her grandmother,  and there was also a male who hung back and never quite came forward, but I could feel he had a bad liver which tells me he was a drinker.

The last area that Clay and I would explore with our group was the basement.  There are many rooms in the basement.  To my surprise, there was a  lot of female energy, not something you usually find in basement areas.  Come to find out, there is a kitchen in the basement and to keep the family cool during the warm days of summer, the servants would cook the meals down there.

There was also a female who interacted with us by manipulating the k-2 meters in a room that can be accessed by a doorway at the bottom of the stairs, then turning right.  She was intimidated by an angry bully of a male spirit who moves through that same doorway but we found in the room to the left.

He was not happy that we were in his space.  He, by nature is a stern curmudgeonly sort, and I believe him to be a worker of the factory across the street, employed by S.K. Pierce.  Just outside of this room there is a cemented up tunnel that once ran under the road and directly into the factory.  I feel he is directly connected to this tunnel.

As our group asked him questions, he became more and more agitated.  His energy seemed to grow stronger but then pulled back.  As fast as it seemed to dissipate, it came back and filled the room in a rush.  We noticed how bone chillingly cold the room became as his anger was readily felt, and we noticed how we suddenly could see our breath as it hung in icy clouds about our faces.  Clay and I became concerned for the safety of our guests as I was sensing that he may touch, push or scratch one of us, so we left him.   We exited the room through the doorway that led us to walk past the original furniture of the house, built by S.K.’s factory that is piled against the wall in the hallway where the tunnel opening lays.  We entered the room across the hall and could feel him glaring at us from the room we just left.

In an attempt to intimidate us, icy breezes began to swirl about our lower legs as the riled spirit entered the room we were now in, following us and threatening to harm our group.  We returned to the summer kitchen through the back doorway under the stairs.  The angry spirit wasn’t about to let us be, as he watched us from the doorway at the bottom of the stairs.  Feeling him stare, I decided to take some pictures.  I took two in succession.

The first photo show an unexplained cloudiness in front of the door from where the spirit stood and glared.  less than 5 seconds later, in the second photo, there is nothing but a white anomaly on the left side of the door frame that looks like an orb in motion heading back into the the room. (You may click on the picture to enlarge it.)  Is this proof?  No.  Is it interesting?  You bet!

It certainly was a night filled with some thought provoking, some funny and some downright scary moments.  All in a night’s work for a ghost hunter.   I would like to extend a great big “Thank You!” to owners Edwin Gonzalez and Lillian Otero, also to Ron Kolek and all of my fellow NEGP crew members for a great night !

Djinn? What’s a Djinn?

Here, in my little part of the world, I have heard of such things as fairies, aliens, goblins, doppelgangers, banshees, Sasquatch and even pukwudgies. Although I have never encountered these creatures, I can keep an open mind and appreciate the possibility that they are real and that they exist. I have never seen, felt or touched my spleen,  but I believe that it exists.

When I first heard mention of this supernatural creature that I had no knowledge of before, I thought to myself “Djinn? What the heck is that?”.

Djinn are found in the Quran and within Islamic teachings. Mention of the Djinn goes back to pre-Islamic times and through archaeological findings it seems that they were once worshiped.

Djinn are believed to dwell in a world parallel to ours.  They are one of the three perceived  creations of Allah, the other two being humans and angels. Djinn have less power than angels.

Djinn have free will and therefore can come and go as they please.  Just as with any spirit, there are good Djinn and bad. Good Djinn have been helpful to humans and bad Djinn have tormented and created havoc for their victims.

It is said that Djinn can take the form of animals, snakes, vultures, scorpions or to mislead people, they can appear for short periods of time in human form.  They have been said to haunt people and places.   They have also been accused of taking over a person’s body by possession.

So, how do you tell the difference between a Djinn and a human spirit?  Who is to say whether you are being tormented  by a mischievous or ornery human spirit, an extremely rare appearance of a Demon, or if you are being tormented by a Djinn.  I have never had an encounter to be able to advise you on how you could tell the difference.  I would have to seek help from a more knowledgeable source.

In my book,  Medium Rare – A first hand account of growing up experiencing the paranormal, I talk about encountering something in my sister’s home.  I knew that it was not human, I knew that it did not belong to the house and that it was very old.  I did not know and still do not know “what” it was.

As I roam about the Internet in search of information, I see that there are many posts and videos made about the Djinn.  So many accounts of encounters.  So many new questions.

The more I learn about the vastness of spiritual realm, (and I am learning something new everyday), the more I realize that this plane that we live on is such a small part of our existence.   An open mind and an open heart are the keys to answering these very questions.

I will now put the Djinn amongst the other spiritual beings that I am aware of, along with the other creatures and beings into my backpack of knowledge.   Although I have never met most of them, maybe I can prepare myself for the day I that do.

From Gibberish to Wow

Yesterday, I brought my Talker ITC to 3 different locations. The first location was Centre Cemetery in Henniker, NH.

This Cemetery is the resting place of Ocean Born Mary. The Talker said nothing as I entered through the space between the gate and the stone wall and blurted out a few nonsensical one syllable sounds before I found Mary’s grave. It fell silent as I took some pictures and explored the area.  About two rows back, and to the left of Mary’s grave, it said some gibberish. I continued to walk around, looking at the stones and the iron grave markers on the right side of the graveyard.

I ventured to the front left side then it said one word, “Hi”.  As for my senses, I felt nothing, no energies, nothing. It was a very quiet, peaceful place. I was close to the street, the water supply and the town electricity, so the talker may have picked up EMF from those sources.

My next stop, after checking out the Ocean Born Mary House (in which she never actually lived), I brought the Talker to the First Burial Ground of Henniker.   This graveyard contains the family or Robert Wallace, who was the son of Ocean Born Mary that built and lived in the famed Ocean Born Mary House.  Mary actually lived with her son William about a mile away.

The Talker was completely silent for the whole time that I explored the sunny graveyard with occupants who had laid there from the mid 1760’s.    I was about to exit and it startled me when  it said one word, “Captain”.  I looked around me, and there was indeed a grave with the inscription “ERECTED In Memory of Cap’ Josiah Ward who departed this life Feb’ 27th 1795  Aged 54 years”.

Leaving Henniker, I headed north along the scenic Currier and Ives Trail that weaves through “quintessential New England”, to my next destination.

Webster Place Cemetery is nestled between two large fields of a working farm.  The family who owns the farm have posted signs that say they do not mind if you access their property to get to the graveyard, but all vehicles MUST stay on the dirt road.  I drove my car along the dusty path until I came to a fork , and a sign that said that only farm vehicles were allowed past this point.  There is no source of electricity anywhere near this graveyard.

I grabbed the Talker and my camera.  I turned on my Talker and got out of my car.  I was facing the road that led straight out to a field and the talker said “Left”.

I was aware of a young male energy.  I walked to my left toward the graveyard and  the Talker then said “Look”.  I stepped over the iron chain fence and entered the graveyard at the old Burleigh plot.  The Talker said “Come closer”.

I quickly went back to my car and retrieved a notebook and a pen and wrote down what the talker had already said.  After I wrote down the three responses the Talker said “You’re ahead”.

I re-entered the cemetery and was drawn to the back corner.  There were small stones with names of babies and children, their ages and date they died.  The Talker said “There are a lot”.   It occurred to me that these must have been the children of the orphanage that was located at the top of the street.   I felt like this young spirit wanted me to go further to the edge of the cemetery’s rear.  I walked over, and there, all by itself, was the grave of a 13 year old boy.   Once I had reached the stone belonging to George, the Talker said no more, as if I had seen what the young spirit had wanted me to.  I no longer could sense the energy either, he just left.

I checked out the rest of the cemetery.  It was very quiet.  The  Talker only said one more thing when I got out of the car at the top of the street to take pictures of the buildings where the orphans were housed.  It said “Celia” and I immediately had the image of a gold cross in my head.  I am curious if it is documented somewhere to see if there was a Nun named Celia who lived on the site.

The Talker, by far, exceeded any expectations that I had formulated for it’s performance.    It certainly is an interesting piece of “experimental equipment”.

A Talker Indeed

I love getting packages in the mail, especially whe they contain things that intrigue me.

I purchased a Talker ITC from Bill Chappell, the creator of other talking ghost hunting tools such as the Ovilus and the Paranormal Puck. When it arrived I immediately put in the 3 required AAA batteries and turned it on. The little red light slowly and methodically blinked at me as if to say “What were you expecting from me, a conversation right off the bat?” I chuckled to myself and decided to check it out.

The Talker works by detecting fluxuations in the Electromagnetic fields surrounding the unit.  It is said that EMF fluxuations happen when spirit activity is present.  The spirits, in turn, can speak through the device by using the sounds that are stored within the Talker’s memory bank and manipulate the energy fluctuations into audible speech.

Armed with this information, I decided to see what the Talker would do if I purposefully changed the EMF levels near the unit.  I went straight to my microwave and it uttered it’s first sounds.  I was wondering if it was a foreign language.  It spat out unidentifiable gibberish in long strains of unmatched syllables.  I brought the unit over to my television, and again it seemed that it was speaking in tongues.

I brought it outside and it was silent.  I decided to take it to a nearby cemetery and left it on as I walked.  It said not one word. Real, or made up ones for that matter.

As I approached the right front side of the cemetery, I was drawn to the area which was closest to the street, on the far front left side.   I entered the small cemetery from the early 1800’s and walked at a slow pace.  I realized I wasn’t alone, I felt a male energy.

I kept walking and the Talker said what I thought was “Merrill”.  I said “Okay, I will look for a gravestone with the name Merrill.”  I continued on my way toward the left side of the cemetery and The Talker said “Tomb”.  I had just passed the only tomb in the cemetery and I was on the back side of it.  I said “Okay, I will go back to the tomb.” and walked around to get to the front side.  As I came to the front I noticed one small stone placed on the front right side.  The name on that stone was Elbridge G Varrell.

When The Talker speaks, it speaks in a robotic voice.  Merrill and Varrell sound so much alike, they could easily be mistaken, one for the other.

All in all, for my first outing with the Talker ITC, I was impressed.  I believe there is some validity to the claims that Bill Chappell makes about his device.  It did say a couple other words, but I missed what they were.  You have to have your ear at the ready at all times with this device, because you never know when the Talker will speak.  I recommend running a digital voice recorder during any and all sessions with the Talker ITC.  That way you will not miss out on words that are said when you are not ready to  listen.

I look forward to bringing it on upcoming investigations to see what it has to say.  More importantly, I want to see if it says things that are as relevant as they were today.

When One Meets Pancho

Last evening I had the pleasure to experience something new.  I travelled to Circles of Wisdom in Andover, MA and encountered a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican ancient artifact that was unearthed in Monte Alban, Mexico.

At the request of  his guardian, Mario Bojorquez,  I removed my shoes to show respect as I entered the back room where the sold out throng of curious attendees had gathered.  As soon as I crossed the threshold into the room, the energy from this beautifully carved piece of clear quartz crystal took over.

I was amazed at the amount of energy I could feel, particularly in my chest.  I also noticed sensation my neck, into my jaw and in the front of my head.  I took my seat in the chair furthest away and in the back corner of the room.

Although my back was against the wall, I was aware of a male presence behind me.  He was big, and he was watching. It was as if the wall wasn’t there, and he was looking over the crowd while being directly connected with the perfectly carved skull.  I have done a quick sketch of him (right).  He was brown skinned and had black hair.  He had full lips and had something draped over his shoulder and across his chest.  He also had something dark and feathery behind his head and was carrying a staff of some sort.  I believe him to be another guardian of the skull, along with Mario.

There was also spirit movement within the room throughout the 3 hour talk, in which Mario explained his journey with the “glass head” that he inherited from his grandparents.

Mario explained that Pancho is all about communication, that quartz crystal is the component that is found within all of our communication devices, such as cell phones and computers.  Crystal stores information and is what computer chips are made of.  One minute chip can store tons of data, photographs, songs or whatever you store on you computer. That is just a tiny, tiny chip.  Imagine the information that could be stored in a large chunk of quartz crystal.  That is what Pancho is.  Stored information from an extremely advanced people from thousands of years ago.

He has surfaced at a time when Mother Earth has begun to shift.  The legend of the 13 Crystals Skulls says that when mankind is on the brink of destruction, the 13 skulls will appear and give humanity the information it needs to survive.

As I am sitting here, recalling my encounter with Pancho, the Ancient Crystal Skull, I am experiencing the same feeling in my chest cavity that I experienced last night.   I believe I met Pancho for a reason.  I am thankful that I was able to experience his energy and learn something new.

If you would like to learn more about Pancho, visit his website at http://panchocrystalskull.blogspot.com/

Let’s Build That House!

A few weeks ago a co-worker of mine asked me if I would go to the property that she and her husband had recently purchased.  She noticed a family cemetery on the property and wanted to know if the former residents were going to be disturbed by building a house there.

Good News!  I visited the lovely, sunny piece of what was once farmland.  I brought my friends Sarah and Jac with me to help me verify the information I was receiving.

As I have done in the past, I gave the dowsing instruments (in this case dowsing rods and my pendulum) to my friends and as I received information I would say it out loud in the form of a question. They would in turn ask the question and get “yes or no” results. I like doing it that way. Not only does it involve my guests, but also can not be manipulated by me.  It is also very comforting for me that the results are consistent between the two dowsers.  They always both say yes, or the both say no.

I was aware of 3 male spirits and one female. Only one would come forward. I am not very good with names, but Samuel was what I got. He was at the farm in the early to mid 1800’s. he presented himself to me clean shaven, wearing a brimmed hat, suspenders and a buttoned shirt. He also shared that he had a child who passed with a fever. I believe Samuel passed with a heart related issue. Both Samuel and the child are burried in the cemetery that is on the lot.

The spirit was not upset that my friend wants to build, but request that she and her family take care of the property and treat the graveyard with respect.

I don’t think that is too much to ask.  Very nice property and very nice spirits!

Is It All In Your Head?

Recently I have been hearing more and more paranormal researchers changing their positions about people experiencing cold chills in a haunted area.

They are dismissing the personal perception as a mind trick, saying the subject experiencing the cold chill must be mistaken because the air temperature around the person stays at a consistent level.

It is well documented that researchers and others have gotten physically ill and sick to their stomachs, leaving the building for fear of vomiting at reportedly haunted locations.

Could it be possible that what ever it is at the haunted site that causes people to double over with nausea, at a lesser level of intensity, could cause a person’s temperature to rise (or fall)?

I get cold chills when I have a fever or my temp is low.  Maybe it is not the atmospheric temperature that changes, but the researcher’s physical body temperature that does.

The personal experience can not be entered as a scientific documentation, but detailed changes in the physical body that can be  logged and substantiated is a step toward scientific documentation.

Maybe paranormal investigators should include a medical thermometer in their kit and monitor the team member’s temperatures as well as the room temperature at the location they are investigating.

Just a thought.

Great Ghostly Conversations

What a wonderful time Fiona Broome and I had at the Memorial Hall Library that serves both Tilton and Northfield, NH.

I would like to thank all of the people who ventured out on a dreary evening to listen to our talk on ghosts and ghost hunting. It was great to see and reconnect with friends as well as meeting new ones!

The “After Talk” experience was a treat!  Coffee, tea, vanilla shakes, as well as tales of ghostly encounters were enjoyed by all who met
at McDonald’s when the library turned out their lights.  Thank you, Souhegan Paranormal for joining us and sharing your evidence and stories of your past investigations!

Also, a warm “Thank You!” to my delightful friends Fiona Broome and Sean Paradis.  I always enjoy our time together and can’t wait for our next adventure.

One Hand, Two Rocks

I had an idea today. I thought to myself, “What if I had two pendulums in one hand. Would they be able to move independently from each other? Would that then prove that the dowser was not manipulating?” I had a quick conversation with my spirit guide, Philip and he agreed to help me with this new experiment.

   Click here to watch the video and see the results   Two Pendulums In One Hand.