Operaider
22nd May 2006, 12:54 AM
I haven’t been posting here for a while now. I’ve been spending, more time reading up on skeptical investigating, and haven’t had the time to post like I was. So as I sit here watching the Travel channels shows on Bigfoot and the Bermuda Triangle, and reading Investigating the Paranormal during the commercials I’ve decided that its time to rejoin the forum.
Recently I had the chance to visit the historic Hannah house. So I figured what better first post then to tell about my overnight stay in a haunted house. So here is what we found.
The overnight stay was sponsored by Proof Paranormal (an Indianapolis version of TAPS). We all arrived at 10 pm, at which point everyone began discussing the other haunted places in the area. I smoked off to the side and refrained from interjecting my opinion. We were then told the story of the Hannah house. You can find a brief history here at Proof’s site www.proofparanormal.com. The basic story is that it was a stop on the under ground railroad and that a knocked over lantern burned many of the slaves to death in the basement, where they were then buried.
We were then split into groups. While we stood around deciding where to investigate first, a girl next to me leaned over and asked if I smelled smoke. One of the people running the house jumped in and excitedly asked “what did you say?!”. The girl told her that she thought she smelled something like cigar smoke. The tour director informed her that no one was smoking cigars and that many people have said that they smell smoke when they were in the house. After we got our groups together I walked into the kitchen and noticed an ashtray on the table, with fresh cigarette butts in it, and a fire glowing in the wood burning stove. Makes you wonder why anyone would claim they smelled smoke.
After spending a few hours investigating the attic, second floor, and watching dust particles dance across Proof Paranormal’s cameras my group went to the basement. We were told it was one of the more active areas of the house, especially the rocking chair off to one side. So as to not make a long story any longer I will summarize what happened.
We heard a tapping noise in the basement that I found to be a leaky pipe dripping on a cardboard box. People felt cold spots off to one side, near the hole in the wall that was plugged with a wicker basket stuffed with rags. A few of the group who sat in the rocking chair said they felt warm, or cold, or both. The chair is positioned under a very hot metal heating pipe, in front of another hole in the wall plugged by rags, and by the leaky pipe. No wonder it’s a hot spot of activity.
They also saw something move by the far wall, which turned out to be my shadow as I walked past the window of the basement. On the same wall we saw a flash of light in the otherwise pitch black room. This was the light caused of the people upstairs taking pictures, and their flashes coming through the cracks between the floor and the heating vent. A small number of people begged the ghost to do something. Move a lantern, rock the chair, anything. All the while I resisted the urge to flick a dime at the metal lantern and give everyone something to talk about.
The night ended with a psychic taking out a pendulum and the group firing questions to the ghosts. It took all of maybe 5 minutes for just about everyone to realize that he was obviously swinging it with his hand. The psychic then excused himself (I think because it was clear to him that no one was falling for it) and went upstairs. A few of the people down there began discussing how they had seen his hand move, and a few weak excuses were given for him before the majority of the group left. My group then sat in the basement and yelled at the walls. Egging on the ghosts in a last ditch attempt at salvaging the night. To no avail.
I'm interested if anyone else has had the chance to spend the night in a house like this. If so, did you nearly go comatose with boredom too?
Recently I had the chance to visit the historic Hannah house. So I figured what better first post then to tell about my overnight stay in a haunted house. So here is what we found.
The overnight stay was sponsored by Proof Paranormal (an Indianapolis version of TAPS). We all arrived at 10 pm, at which point everyone began discussing the other haunted places in the area. I smoked off to the side and refrained from interjecting my opinion. We were then told the story of the Hannah house. You can find a brief history here at Proof’s site www.proofparanormal.com. The basic story is that it was a stop on the under ground railroad and that a knocked over lantern burned many of the slaves to death in the basement, where they were then buried.
We were then split into groups. While we stood around deciding where to investigate first, a girl next to me leaned over and asked if I smelled smoke. One of the people running the house jumped in and excitedly asked “what did you say?!”. The girl told her that she thought she smelled something like cigar smoke. The tour director informed her that no one was smoking cigars and that many people have said that they smell smoke when they were in the house. After we got our groups together I walked into the kitchen and noticed an ashtray on the table, with fresh cigarette butts in it, and a fire glowing in the wood burning stove. Makes you wonder why anyone would claim they smelled smoke.
After spending a few hours investigating the attic, second floor, and watching dust particles dance across Proof Paranormal’s cameras my group went to the basement. We were told it was one of the more active areas of the house, especially the rocking chair off to one side. So as to not make a long story any longer I will summarize what happened.
We heard a tapping noise in the basement that I found to be a leaky pipe dripping on a cardboard box. People felt cold spots off to one side, near the hole in the wall that was plugged with a wicker basket stuffed with rags. A few of the group who sat in the rocking chair said they felt warm, or cold, or both. The chair is positioned under a very hot metal heating pipe, in front of another hole in the wall plugged by rags, and by the leaky pipe. No wonder it’s a hot spot of activity.
They also saw something move by the far wall, which turned out to be my shadow as I walked past the window of the basement. On the same wall we saw a flash of light in the otherwise pitch black room. This was the light caused of the people upstairs taking pictures, and their flashes coming through the cracks between the floor and the heating vent. A small number of people begged the ghost to do something. Move a lantern, rock the chair, anything. All the while I resisted the urge to flick a dime at the metal lantern and give everyone something to talk about.
The night ended with a psychic taking out a pendulum and the group firing questions to the ghosts. It took all of maybe 5 minutes for just about everyone to realize that he was obviously swinging it with his hand. The psychic then excused himself (I think because it was clear to him that no one was falling for it) and went upstairs. A few of the people down there began discussing how they had seen his hand move, and a few weak excuses were given for him before the majority of the group left. My group then sat in the basement and yelled at the walls. Egging on the ghosts in a last ditch attempt at salvaging the night. To no avail.
I'm interested if anyone else has had the chance to spend the night in a house like this. If so, did you nearly go comatose with boredom too?