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The GhostGirls Investigation Report: Year Two

Nicole Boscia

Site Location: Classified, California

Investigation: September 28-29, 2012

Investigated By: GhostGirls

Site Details:

It had been two years since our last paranormal investigation at the Haunted Mansion. It stood unchanged in its tucked-away location far from the sights and sounds of the city below. As we approached, we felt as though we were being warmly greeted by the house and spirits inside, welcomed back to give those entities confined within a voice. We learned previously that several spirits haunted the location, so our goal the second time around was to find out more about them, their history, and why they still linger.

It is also our hope to gain a more enlightened understanding of our own reality from any information the spirits are willing to share with us. While our primary purpose was to investigate and document activity at the mansion, the investigation was also an opportunity to learn about our own existence from those who have passed on.

During our previous exploration at this location, we focused on debugging and learning the unique characteristics of the location. We had already discovered the causes of high EMF spikes due to old wiring in several locations, or the tricky third-floor light switch that controlled the porch light. The windows throughout the house remained open during the day, sometimes with fans running, so doors could easily open and close on their own due to the natural suction created. We witnessed this firsthand during our investigation, as a bedroom door slowly closed while we were talking.

Due to the eccentric layout of the building, sound also carried in a strange way. Noises from outside easily could be heard. Footsteps reverberated across floors. The house’s anomalies, along with the unconventional layout, gave it a wonderfully creepy natural atmosphere.

Mansion layout by Nikki Boscia

Equipment:

We were much better equipped for the tasks at hand this time. Not only did we have specific names to call upon and knowledge of the hotspots, but also we brought all the equipment we could stuff into our vehicle.

For video recording, our equipment included a high-definition (HD) CCTV system with three infrared cameras, one multi-spectrum (ultraviolet to infrared) camera, and a DVR to record all the feeds while the cameras ran overnight and during the day. As before, our investigators continued to use handheld infrared camcorders and an HD UV/IR-only (ultraviolet and infrared light only) video camera during our investigation. Our audio was expanded to include five digital voice recorders, some of which were left in key rooms of paranormal activity to record day and night. One of the recorders allowed us to listen live for EVPs while we asked questions, by having the receiving audio signal split out the headphone jack. This allowed for interactive EVP sessions and to “hear the dead” just as if they were one of us. In hopes of capturing an image of one of the entities of the mansion, regular and multi-spectrum photographic cameras were also used.

Nikki Boscia displaying thermochromatic sheet.

For more scientific equipment, we experimented with some new tools to help promote and capture interactions with the spirits. Two types of thermochromatic sheets were used: one using liquid crystals and another layered with specialized paint that changes colors at different heat signatures. Placing a hand on the sheet would leave a distinct print for several minutes until the heat dissipated. From our physics collection, we had a magnetic needle to visually identify changes in the magnetic field and electrostatic (e-Field) detectors with a positive and negative field sensor. We left these in front of a CCTV camera to detect magnetic or electrostatic changes while no one was around. Additionally, standard paranormal equipment was used: analog detectors for naturally occurring DC fields, a tri-field (magnetic, static, radio/microwave) meter, and AC electromagnetic field (EMF) detectors with varying sensitivity ranges. We had more equipment than we had hands or people to use, but we tried to use each device during the investigation, tailoring them to what gave us the best response at the time.

Investigation Techniques:

We used the positive and negative ion detectors, tri-field detector with audio feedback, and thermochromatic paper near where we were doing EVP sessions. We encouraged the spirits to walk by, so we could hear the detector go off, or see the lights on the ion detectors go out. During one of the tarot sessions, we made contact with a playful child and saw a small handprint left on the paper. It wasn’t as warm as a living person’s handprint, but the print was in cooler colors and faded away after a couple minutes. The electrostatic detector noted slight changes while we were all still, which could imply that an entity was moving or walking by. Of course, we also used the live audio monitor this time around, instead of solely relying upon post-investigation audio analysis to know if we had activity or not.

Diane from GhostGirls and Sèphera Girón.

Another new technique we tried was the “flashlight trick” where twist-end flashlights are barely turned off and the spirits are supposedly able to twist the end just enough to control turning them on and off. We had two flashlights, black and pink, and assigned “Yes” and “No” values to them, then asked questions in hopes that the spirits would communicate responses to us through these devices. Sometimes the tricky part is phrasing questions in yes or no format, but it can also take a long time for them to be completely turned off.

During several sessions, we placed flashlights near us. Sometimes they would not turn on at all. Other times were very responsive. However, the consistency and timing of the responses weren’t enough to be convincing that we were getting legitimate responses. If “Yes” turned on more, it could just be that that flashlight was tuned too sensitively, rather than a spirit having an affinity with it. We didn’t get many instant on and instant off responses, as we have at other locations.

As a baseline test, we left two flashlights on a bed with a camcorder on them while we all left and investigated elsewhere. After reviewing the video, we observed one of the flashlights slowly turning on and off, even though no one was around asking questions. The other flashlight only turned on once, right before we entered. It may have had its circuit complete from the vibrations of our footsteps. This doesn’t rule out the possibility that the entities were just playing around with them (or perhaps their vicinity sets them off), but it does rule out that we were somehow causing them to go on and off. In all, this technique remains too ambiguous and inconclusive to justify as evidence in this particular case.

Some of the prominent experiences from the last investigation were that of a dark mass being seen in one of the second floor hallways, along with some very clear EVPs recorded in three of the bedrooms. Since visual evidence is often more compelling to the paranormal community than audio evidence, we set out to capture the black mass on video again. Throughout the night, investigators caught glimpses of shadow movement or areas that can only be described as “darker than the darkness.” Others reported unusual light anomalies at night, but nothing was captured on our equipment.

Occasionally a faint disembodied voice could be heard, which was later confirmed on our audio recorders. Often there was the sound of furniture being moved—and no one could figure out where the sound originated. Due to the “sound play” that the layout provided, it was hard to identify even which floor it was coming from. However, since local staff worked in the dining room, kitchen, basement, and/or third-floor apartment, the nature of the furniture movement could not be ruled paranormal. The environment was too uncontrolled.

On the first night, we started an EVP session on the third floor. I got a sudden headache and quickly started to feel as if I had been hit with something on the back of the head. I felt weak, so I stood up to walk out of the room. My legs collapsed. After standing up with the help of another investigator, I felt dizzy. It took all my remaining energy to get out of that room as fast as possible. Within a minute of leaving the area, the feeling of weakness went away, although the dizziness lingered for a short while. While that in itself can be explained by natural means (dehydration, drop in blood pressure, etc.), another person had a similar encounter in the same room later that night, which led to a full attack by an entity.

During our investigations, we took the voice recorder that allowed live monitoring with us. An investigator wore headphones during our sessions. This setup takes a while to get used to because, when it comes to obscure noises, it’s challenging to differentiate our voices and ambient noises from the paranormal.

In one instance, we were able to hear a woman talking while giving a tarot reading in the first-floor apartment.

While we can’t always figure out exactly what’s being said at the time, the live monitoring gives us instant feedback as to whether or not we’re getting any responses. A lot of the time, we heard very faint and distant whispering in the background. It wasn’t enough to make out any words, but where there should have been silence, there were instead varying tones of human speech. This is backed up in our recordings, where enhancements can be made to the audio levels, which allows us to easily hear the spirits talking.

The most dramatic live encounter with the paranormal, however, came in what was called Gretchen’s Room, where—in our prior investigation—we received many EVPs referring to her name. During one of our sessions, a spirit came close to the microphone and yelled, “Nice punk hair.” It was so clear at the time that it sounded as if the person was standing right next to me. My reaction at first was shock that the dead can be heard so clearly using this equipment. Other investigators in the room had no idea what had been said. Having the ability to hear EVPs in real-time adds an exciting new element to paranormal investigation.

As before, the invisible inhabitants of this house were quite willing to communicate. They understood our equipment—even referred to it as recorders—and knew how they could interact with it. Our best collection of evidence comes from our digital voice recorders.

The difficult part of EVP analysis is identifying what’s been communicated. Sometimes their voices do not imprint well (especially for those with deeper tone); some just imprint too faintly or are not near enough to the recording device. Even with all the technology for audio enhancement, more than half the time, deciphering EVPs is guesswork. Audio analysis is further complicated by external and ambient noises, multiple spirits talking, or voices being washed out by investigators talking. It’s frustrating to know you’ve captured a response to a question but cannot understand it. Likewise, the spirits are often frustrated that they do not receive replies from us. This was made apparent throughout our audio review.

From our EVP sessions, we have determined that there were about twenty-three spirits in the house at the time. This number was given in two separate EVP sessions. All the rooms we investigated had multiple spirits occupying them. Some even followed us room-to-room and their voices became common across EVP sessions.

Most of the spirits seem to be from more recent times and were aware of technological equipment; one even mentioned computers. There are children, their parents, and the elderly, all sharing the location. It’s not clear if they are all related or even from the same time period. We suspect that the parent and child entities are those that had previously lived at the location; however, many groups of people have occupied the building and grounds in the past. As they had in the physical world, all maintain unique personalities. There’s a stern, but very frank lady that gave us insightful replies about their (and our) existence. There’s a male full of anger and aggression, which other spirits fear. Just as in a house full of people in our reality, they all talk together and not all get along. Some are sad, some are afraid, and some are very content.

Gretchen’s Room: This is a large three-bed room on the second floor. In the past, we have gotten the most interactive responses here, from at least a few spirits. The lady Gretchen is the most prominent one. Our investigation yielded similar results this time: direct EVP responses from both males and females, including Gretchen. Her voice always records with a stronger tone than most females and is easy to identify. There are a lot of references to praying in this area. It may indicate that the spirits there are from the time period when the location was used as a religious facility.

Black Mass Room: This is where we originally saw and captured the black mass on video. It’s presumed to be the priest, based upon previous audio evidence captured. We did several sessions in this room in the darkness. We also left some of our scientific equipment on the floor with a CCTV UV/IR camera recording overnight. The room is very tiny, but the area used to be used for some other purpose. We did capture more audio evidence referring to the area as a church, again tying into the religious atmosphere. The priest did not appear to us this time, either on video or audio. Still, a lot of clear responses were captured here on audio. The spirits responded to us the entire time. Some of our more profound responses came from here.

Sewing Room: We had not previously explored this small room. One of the local staff ladies told us that it used to be the owner’s wife’s sewing room and is one of the more haunted rooms. She said that it had a creepy feeling to it. In this room, we mainly recorded a child and his parents talking. One of the investigators saw a shadow; immediately afterward, we captured on audio an EVP: “She looked at me.” There were also references to Gretchen here.

Black Cat Room / Tarot Room: On the third floor is a large corner bedroom with a print of Toulouse-Lautrec’s black cat covering an area where bricks are missing from the wall. This is where tarot sessions were done to stir up activity. The little boy was often heard here. After requesting the spirits place their hands on the thermochromatic paper, we captured a faint small handprint in this room. Significant EVPs were captured with the most intelligent responses to our questions. They also seem to be more recently deceased than others. One response included the year 2001, which puts a very recent date to their passing.

The Attack Room: Down the hall from the Black Cat Room is another rather large bedroom with a side nook containing additional beds. This is where one of our investigators suddenly felt dizzy and weak, followed by an attack on one of the writers later that night. It’s also the room where we captured some very strong and offensive EVPs. The entities here are familiar with modern technologies and even mentioned a computer. This is undoubtedly the least safe location in the mansion, with aggressive and advanced spirits capable of incorporeal (spiritual) dominance.

Private Apartment: This area on the first floor was left untouched in our last investigation, so we were excited to get to do some sessions in it this time. It’s believed to be the apartment where the lady of the house lived after her husband died. It has its own bath, bedroom, living, and kitchen area. We found different spirits here. Most notable was a very, very old-sounding lady.

Someone could easily have a full-time job just collecting and analyzing EVPs at this location. The spirits are quite talkative, with distinct personalities. In the recordings, it’s often hard to determine if the spirits are talking to us—or to each other.

A location is often classified with a residual or intelligent haunting. This site has both. It seems that most spirits can “time slip” between communicating with us and their old normal lives, involving work and socializing.

The transcribed voices can be categorized as direct interaction, inter-spirit communication (talking about us, in current time), or inter-spirit residual (talking to each other as if in another time period). When responses are out of context, they’re taken to be residual. No one is sure if the spirits are living in a memory, or if we’re actually able to pick up voices from the past. It is clear that the entities are able to jump to our time period at will. Keep in mind that time itself isn’t linear, so they may simply exist out of the scope of our experience of time.

One important topic that kept coming up throughout our EVPs here and at other places we’ve investigated was whether we are the dead ones or if they are. It’s very possible that they do not know they’re dead, so to them, we’re the ghostly figures speaking from beyond the grave. There are references to our reality just being a dream, but also that they’re the ones existing in a dream. This dichotomy persists in many locations we’ve investigated. It’s critical to research, in order to understand our own existence as well.

Sometimes they are aware of their own deaths, but other times they believe that we are the deceased:

These were all caught on the voice recorder in various rooms of the house. It’s ambiguous whether they are being said to us or to other spirits. It’s rather ironic and disturbing to hear the dead saying things to us that we normally would say to them to help them pass on. This naturally leads one to wonder what happens when we pass on? Is there a purgatory stage? If so, is that what state the entities are in when they haunt a location, instead of moving on? Do they connect with a supreme being? These are all questions we ask to gain any knowledge about the afterlife that we can. If the spirits don’t know they’re dead, then they are often confused by such questions, but some give us insightful answers:

While some answers can be fairly profound and thought-provoking, they are never lucid enough to definitively say whether they are in some transitional state or bound indefinitely to the location. They are, however, very aware of us being there and what our equipment is. Most are able to see our physical bodies, but they are confused why we cannot see them:

It’s clear that they can hear us and see us. From their point of view, they’re responding to us, but we keep talking as if we never hear them. This eventually becomes exasperating to them, because they are also asking us questions that we never respond to. They have no idea that we’re able to hear everything afterwards.

With the live monitor, only EVPs captured close to the microphone can be immediately responded to by us. One exception was on the third floor where the spirits were talking about our recorders; a male said, “At the computer, that’s where you can really study it.” Such a modern and descriptive response is stunning and unexpected, at the least. While that may be unbelievable, there are other spirits that refer to our equipment and vent their frustration at our disregard of their responses:

In the end, the evidence review ended up raising more questions than it answered. We gathered new names—including surnames—to research and some familiar names such as Gretchen and Patrick made a re-appearance. However, we are no closer to knowing exactly who these people were in life or how they came to be associated with this location.

In video review, the only possible paranormal event that was captured was with the flashlights turning on and off on their own when no one was around. There were many “orbs”—dust particles and bugs, all of which that can be easily reproduced with natural material. One multi-spectrum photo did capture a light anomaly, a sharp orb floating in the area where the aggressive spirit attacked people and left obscene EVPs. Since no flash was used and no light source was located behind the camera, it’s more difficult to classify this orb as particle reflection. Sadly, no dark figures were captured in this time, even with the extensive camera system running overnight.

The spirits who call this mansion home continue to remain a mystery. We’ve gotten to know them on a more personal level, but the circumstances of their deaths or attachments to the location remain undetermined.

Several entities are very willing to talk to us, even though they don’t understand why we aren’t immediately replying and are unable to see them. They’ve become quite familiar with our equipment. It’s frustrating to both parties that two-way communication hasn’t progressed enough to freely interact with each other. While the live monitor device is a step toward that means, the equipment isn’t sensitive and refined enough to always pick up on the faint whispers of the past. It requires some training for both investigators and the spirits to learn to talk into the device.

Even with a comprehensive array of equipment in our paranormal repertoire, the spirits continue to elude us with any type of material evidence. Audio recordings remain their most effectual and compelling means of manifestation. Each spiritual response we capture is just a piece in the puzzle of the past. As investigators, we can only surmise what is trying to be conveyed to us. The haunted mansion, full of whimsical spirits, continues to be an on-going investigation…