The investigation took place in an unoccupied house built in the 1880s in Alabama. I felt welcome at the site, but can’t figure out if the feeling came from my teammates or “others.” Given what I recorded, I think it was a little of both. We had responses specific to our questions and requests. Responses were received via dowsing rods, being touched, EM/EMF meters and EVP replies. I still don’t know how to view dowsing rods – not sure if physical forces can subconsciously manipulate them or not.
To my knowledge, dowsing rods have little to no scientific backing as a legitimate tool for finding water or communicating with spirits. No matter what I think, people have stood by dowsing rods for hundreds of years. I’ve always mocked their use and those who swear by them, until now. Although I’m no longer mocking, I’m still not sure what causes them to respond as I have experienced in my own hands. All I know is I’ve asked yes/no questions and the rods moved on cue. I went so far as to squeeze my hands to stop the rods from moving, but to no avail. About a month ago when I first used the rods, the session was videoed, paying close attention to my hands. Beyond my repeating the word “Wow,” there were no visible signs of subconscious or obvious manipulation on my part. My questions were clumsy, but got better as time went on. During this investigation I was 100 percent better. Watch 30 minutes of embarrassing tape of yourself and you’re sure to improve.
During this EVP session, there were four investigators including myself. I held the dowsing rods for about 45 minutes and had a Tri-field Natural EM Meter, located approximately six feet from my position. There were also three digital recorders running during the session. I didn’t pay attention to the meter, but later heard in recordings an audible signal from the meter, corresponding with dowsing rod activity. Most communications appeared to be with William Starkey, as determined by the on-site intuitive and responses to questions. Mr. Starkey built the Dogtrot portion of the house (circa 1880) that we were investigating and has been credited for previous paranormal activity. Twenty minutes into Mr. Starkey questioning, Brooksie (the intuitive) felt the presence of a child, which prompted questioning to shift to the new visitor. Dowsing rod responses were okay, but not as pronounced with Mr. Starkey.
Meanwhile, Pam (another investigator) suddenly became chilled to the bone – standing about eight feet from me. Temperature readings dropped about eight degrees, but not significant enough to point to anything other than poor installation and a cool fall wind piercing the walls. Brooksie asked the child spirit to touch her arm, which was eventually obliged. I made a quick toy out of one of Pam’s film canisters and tried to coax the spirit to interact with me. I picked up a screw washer and placed it in the palm of my hand, asking the spirit to take it from me. After a few moments I felt a soft touch, but nothing I’d classify as definite contact – just enough to peak my interest.
Suddenly, Brooksie felt a new presence quickly enter the room and move directly behind Beth’s position. I also felt a breeze as though someone walked into the room. Brooksie followed the presence towards Beth and said she saw a man wearing a gray suit. She went on to say that the man was here for Beth and he wanted Beth to say his name. What I should have done is taken Brooksie out of the room and asked her to tell me the name, as to confirm both she and Beth came to the same independent conclusion. Beth identified the spirit as Bob, her uncle who died June 1999. As Beth was concentrating, Brooksie held both her hands. Beth had placed her recorder on waist-high wood framing to her right. I was six feet from them, holding the dowsing rods, with my recorder running. Right before Beth identified Uncle Bob, everyone in the room heard a pronounced sigh – picked up on all recorders. What we didn’t discover until later were three loud bangs (over a five second interval). The bangs were very loud on Beth’s recorder, but not nearly as pronounced on my recorder – again, six feet away from Beth’s recorder.
Uncle Bob questioning focused on determining if this was indeed Beth’s uncle (assuming dowsing rods can help communicate with spirits). I asked questions about things only the real Uncle Bob would know, requiring both affirmative and negative responses. All answers were correct. Earlier in the evening, Beth lost her pearl cross necklace. We asked Bob if he knew where the necklace was and to point to its location. The rods immediately pointed to the closest outside wall. Brooksie and Pam found the necklace outside, but 180 degrees off from the direction of the rods. Was Bob simply indicating the necklace was outside by pointing to the nearest window? Or did we subconsciously move the rods to point to where we thought it was dropped? Brooksie immediately thought the necklace was dropped near the barn, which is where it was later found.
Our last EVP session took place at the barn. Beth recorded about five seconds of a woman speaking – the only intelligible word cannot be repeated in the blog. Let’s just say, she wasn’t happy. When I asked if anyone wanted to speak with us, Brooksie heard “No,” but Beth recorded “Yes,” Go figure.
by Sneeman
