Post by Tim Weisberg on Oct 17, 2006 21:39:19 GMT -5
Hey all, I just wanted to share with you some of the strang occurances that took place on our visit to the Lizzie Borden house this past Sunday (October 15).
First, we were going to meet up with a few listeners--Kerrie from Granite State Paranormal in New Hampshire, and Jeannette from MAGS West out in California. It was Jeannette's birthday, and we were all going to visit the Factory of Terror and the Asylum of Horror, but by the time they got back from visiting with Keith and Sandra Johnson, some strange things were already taking place at 92 Second Street.
While we were waiting for the girls to come back, myself, Matt Costa, and Matt Moniz decided we'd go inside and say hello to the owner, Lee-Ann Wilbur. There was another couple also staying in the house, as well as Lee-Ann's friend, Ann.
After catching up with Lee-Ann about some of the latest activity, we started poking around the house. The first time we visited back in July, Moniz was unable to join us. This time, I really wanted to get his impressions--especially since no overt activity took place the first time we were there.
Lee-Ann told us about some interesting footage captured in a Fangoria TV special, where a plate in a glass hutch in Lizzie's room moved on its own. The footage was very impressive, and we headed upstairs to try to debunk it (no luck). While up there, we asked if we could take a look on the third floor, which we missed the first time we were there.
So the Spooky Crew and Ann went upstairs, first into the Sewing Room. There are reports of the old-fashioned sewing machine going off on its own, so we wanted to see it happen. We enclosed ourselves in the room with no lights on. Costa closed the door, and was sure he had latched it shut...however, it creaked open about 1/4 of the way when we asked for a sign. We did debunk it, however, as somethign that happens when the forced hot air from the ceiling vent directly over the door shuts off. At least, that's the likely scenario.
The next room over, the Chimney Room, is directly over the Murder Room (where Mrs. Borden was assaulted). In that room, rumors of the closet door flying open are common, so we wanted to see that as well.
I laid down on the bed, sideways, with my legs hanging over the side you would enter on. I placed my hands, palms down, flat against my chest, and just relaxed. The room was noticeably colder than the rest of the house, even though I couldn't feel a draft from the vents or the window. So I lay there, and all of a sudden, it feels especially colder over my hands. Then, the backs of my hands begin to tingle with a noticeable electrical charge. As it intensified--to about the shock-value of licking a 9-volt battery--I asked Costa and Moniz to come over and hold their hands above mine. Not only could they feel the cold, but Costa (the noted skeptic of our little group) could feel the electrical charge climbing up his arm.
Intrigued, I started to ask for a stronger sign that something was present. I asked it to move the bed, and it started to tremble ever-so-slightly. Now that could have been from people walking downstairs, cars driving by, any number of things...so I asked it to move me. Slide me around, lift me up, toss me off the bed, whatever. After a few moments, my feet began to lift off the ground and my legs started to straighten out, as if someone had come over and picked them up off the floor and was going to hold them out over the side of the bed. The cold and the tingling got much much stronger, too.
I could actually feel my legs extending outward, and to me, it felt as though they were now at a 90-degree angle with the side of the bed, parallel to the floor. Moniz, who was snapping pictures with Ann's camera (we'll get the pics from her soon), said they lifted for sure, but not as much as I felt they had. Then, I got this strange sensation of, even though my back was flat against the bed, like something was trying to pull me out of myself, if you get what I mean. It's hard to explain. It just wasn't comfortable or pleasant. This went on for a few more minutes, before I could finally push my legs back to the floor.\
When I got up, I was very woozy and I felt completely drained. Moniz even had to catch me as I stumbled to gain my footing. We went downstairs for a bit, eager to report the experience.
By this point, Kerrie and Jeannette were back, and they were embarking on the Lizzie tour with Lee-Ann and the other guests. They allowed us to use their digital thermometer, and their EMF detector. We still had Ann's camera, and Costa had his iPod, which he has the recording setup for to record audio (he's still going over it for EVPs).
We went upstairs and did a complete EMF sweep, with no spikes near the bed to indicate that there's bad wiring or something else that would have caused the electric sensation. We did get frequent temperature spikes of three to four degrees, especially near the entrance to the chimney room.
I was using Ann's camera to snap photos of Moniz while he did the EMF sweep...the flash helped him see the numbers. I held the camera down by my side, and all of a sudden, I heard the click and whirr of the camera shutting off. Ann asked me if that was the camera shutting off, saying the battery was freshly charged and that it didn't have an auto-shutoff feature (she's a professional photographer). The actual on/off dial needs someone to spin it to the "off" position, which wouldn't happen accidentally, and besides, it was still in the "on" position. Ann later found out that pixel rate had automatically re-set to the highest setting after that incident--something that only happens when the batteries are removed and replaced.
That means something completely drained the batteries, and then recharged them in a matter of seconds.
Further investigation of the house turned up only some strange knocking sounds, and phantom footsteps were experiences by others in the house. Kerrie and Ann reported something walking right in between them, even though nobody was there. Also, Kerrie was laying on a couch in the third floor hallway when the sewing machine went off.
While the Spooky Crew was down in the basement, we got a 10-degree spike in temperature near the basin, but nothing else down there.
Before we took off for the night, we went upstairs to see if we could recreate what happened to my legs in the chimney room. It took significantly longer to happen this time, and I was actually just about to give up, when Kerrie asked again and used the magic word (please). Suddenly, I could feel my legs lifting again! And this time, it felt as though the back of my calves, near the knee, were lifting as well, and I could actually feel a phantom hand on my heel and a thumb on my ankle, lifting my feet.
In addition, I had some people feel my thighs while this was taking place, and the electricity was jumping through them...but the muscles were completely tensed. Try lifting your leg up without feeling your thigh muscles twitch, and you'll see what it was so weird.
I don't know what exactly happened, all I can say is that I sensed a male presence, pushing down on me and I think something else was lifting my legs. We're still reviewing some evidence and putting together theories, but I can tell you all one thing for sure--I know I was physically touched by something unseen.
It was my first such experience, and what an experience it was!
First, we were going to meet up with a few listeners--Kerrie from Granite State Paranormal in New Hampshire, and Jeannette from MAGS West out in California. It was Jeannette's birthday, and we were all going to visit the Factory of Terror and the Asylum of Horror, but by the time they got back from visiting with Keith and Sandra Johnson, some strange things were already taking place at 92 Second Street.
While we were waiting for the girls to come back, myself, Matt Costa, and Matt Moniz decided we'd go inside and say hello to the owner, Lee-Ann Wilbur. There was another couple also staying in the house, as well as Lee-Ann's friend, Ann.
After catching up with Lee-Ann about some of the latest activity, we started poking around the house. The first time we visited back in July, Moniz was unable to join us. This time, I really wanted to get his impressions--especially since no overt activity took place the first time we were there.
Lee-Ann told us about some interesting footage captured in a Fangoria TV special, where a plate in a glass hutch in Lizzie's room moved on its own. The footage was very impressive, and we headed upstairs to try to debunk it (no luck). While up there, we asked if we could take a look on the third floor, which we missed the first time we were there.
So the Spooky Crew and Ann went upstairs, first into the Sewing Room. There are reports of the old-fashioned sewing machine going off on its own, so we wanted to see it happen. We enclosed ourselves in the room with no lights on. Costa closed the door, and was sure he had latched it shut...however, it creaked open about 1/4 of the way when we asked for a sign. We did debunk it, however, as somethign that happens when the forced hot air from the ceiling vent directly over the door shuts off. At least, that's the likely scenario.
The next room over, the Chimney Room, is directly over the Murder Room (where Mrs. Borden was assaulted). In that room, rumors of the closet door flying open are common, so we wanted to see that as well.
I laid down on the bed, sideways, with my legs hanging over the side you would enter on. I placed my hands, palms down, flat against my chest, and just relaxed. The room was noticeably colder than the rest of the house, even though I couldn't feel a draft from the vents or the window. So I lay there, and all of a sudden, it feels especially colder over my hands. Then, the backs of my hands begin to tingle with a noticeable electrical charge. As it intensified--to about the shock-value of licking a 9-volt battery--I asked Costa and Moniz to come over and hold their hands above mine. Not only could they feel the cold, but Costa (the noted skeptic of our little group) could feel the electrical charge climbing up his arm.
Intrigued, I started to ask for a stronger sign that something was present. I asked it to move the bed, and it started to tremble ever-so-slightly. Now that could have been from people walking downstairs, cars driving by, any number of things...so I asked it to move me. Slide me around, lift me up, toss me off the bed, whatever. After a few moments, my feet began to lift off the ground and my legs started to straighten out, as if someone had come over and picked them up off the floor and was going to hold them out over the side of the bed. The cold and the tingling got much much stronger, too.
I could actually feel my legs extending outward, and to me, it felt as though they were now at a 90-degree angle with the side of the bed, parallel to the floor. Moniz, who was snapping pictures with Ann's camera (we'll get the pics from her soon), said they lifted for sure, but not as much as I felt they had. Then, I got this strange sensation of, even though my back was flat against the bed, like something was trying to pull me out of myself, if you get what I mean. It's hard to explain. It just wasn't comfortable or pleasant. This went on for a few more minutes, before I could finally push my legs back to the floor.\
When I got up, I was very woozy and I felt completely drained. Moniz even had to catch me as I stumbled to gain my footing. We went downstairs for a bit, eager to report the experience.
By this point, Kerrie and Jeannette were back, and they were embarking on the Lizzie tour with Lee-Ann and the other guests. They allowed us to use their digital thermometer, and their EMF detector. We still had Ann's camera, and Costa had his iPod, which he has the recording setup for to record audio (he's still going over it for EVPs).
We went upstairs and did a complete EMF sweep, with no spikes near the bed to indicate that there's bad wiring or something else that would have caused the electric sensation. We did get frequent temperature spikes of three to four degrees, especially near the entrance to the chimney room.
I was using Ann's camera to snap photos of Moniz while he did the EMF sweep...the flash helped him see the numbers. I held the camera down by my side, and all of a sudden, I heard the click and whirr of the camera shutting off. Ann asked me if that was the camera shutting off, saying the battery was freshly charged and that it didn't have an auto-shutoff feature (she's a professional photographer). The actual on/off dial needs someone to spin it to the "off" position, which wouldn't happen accidentally, and besides, it was still in the "on" position. Ann later found out that pixel rate had automatically re-set to the highest setting after that incident--something that only happens when the batteries are removed and replaced.
That means something completely drained the batteries, and then recharged them in a matter of seconds.
Further investigation of the house turned up only some strange knocking sounds, and phantom footsteps were experiences by others in the house. Kerrie and Ann reported something walking right in between them, even though nobody was there. Also, Kerrie was laying on a couch in the third floor hallway when the sewing machine went off.
While the Spooky Crew was down in the basement, we got a 10-degree spike in temperature near the basin, but nothing else down there.
Before we took off for the night, we went upstairs to see if we could recreate what happened to my legs in the chimney room. It took significantly longer to happen this time, and I was actually just about to give up, when Kerrie asked again and used the magic word (please). Suddenly, I could feel my legs lifting again! And this time, it felt as though the back of my calves, near the knee, were lifting as well, and I could actually feel a phantom hand on my heel and a thumb on my ankle, lifting my feet.
In addition, I had some people feel my thighs while this was taking place, and the electricity was jumping through them...but the muscles were completely tensed. Try lifting your leg up without feeling your thigh muscles twitch, and you'll see what it was so weird.
I don't know what exactly happened, all I can say is that I sensed a male presence, pushing down on me and I think something else was lifting my legs. We're still reviewing some evidence and putting together theories, but I can tell you all one thing for sure--I know I was physically touched by something unseen.
It was my first such experience, and what an experience it was!