History
A family friend of SPLAT lead investigator Jamie contacted us to come investigate her house. She was selling the house and moving and wanted to know if the strange events that occurred in her house while she was still living there were in fact that of a ghost.
We were told while interviewing her that she would see an apparition of a small girl appear in her bedroom on the second floor of the house at night. She also informed us her room had a door that led up to the attic and if this door was closed she would hear a small child crying at night. This would wake her up and force her to keep the attic door open frequently.
The strange thing about this house was it use to be a funeral home many years ago. The living room of the house still resembled that of a funeral home viewing room and the closet in the main floor of the house was used as a cadaver lift to transport corpses from the basement to the viewing room.
We felt this house had a lot of history and the stories we were told seemed very credible. Since the house was going to be sold soon we had to conduct our investigation as soon as possible.
Setup
It was kind of tough to do the investigation because all utilities to the house were shut off and all furniture and most belongings were removed. It was early March in western PA, there was snow on the ground outside and the temperature was hovering around 40 degrees. There were a few good things about this type of investigation such as we had the house to ourselves, all furniture was removed to simplify moving about the location, and electricity and utilities were turned off which cut down on false EMF readings.
We arrived at the location around 5:00PM, interviewed the witness and conducted a walk through of the location. We setup a base in the downstairs kitchen and lit a kerosene heater in order to warms ourselves.
Investigation Stage 1
We proceeded to engage the investigation at approximately 6:30PM. The first sweep was conducted; we exited kitchen and entered middle dinning room of first floor. The dinning room was swept for EMFs then we proceeded to go down to the basement.
We swept basement for EMFs, took digital and 35mm pictures, and set up the two audio recorders on an old cardboard box we found there. After the sweep of the basement we proceeded to head for the first floor again.
We crossed the main dining room and entered what used to be the funeral home’s viewing room. This room was swept this room for EVPs, EMFs, and dowsing responses and we also took digital and 35mm pictures of this room as well as more video. While in this room, we noticed that there were higher EMF readings coming from the far right hand side of the room. When we investigated this, we found it to be radiating from two white painted pipes that ran from the basement through this room and into the upstairs. These EMF findings, even though they are of no significance now, will display an abnormality in the future of this investigation.
We now exited this room and proceeded to the stairwell that led to the second floor where the bedrooms were located. Upon getting to the second floor we first did a sweep of the bathroom. The bathroom was straight ahead from the top of the stairs and we were trying to sweep each room one by one in an organized fashion.
Jason asked Walter at this point to sweep for EMFs by the two pipes at the far end of the bathroom (these are the same pipes that ran up from the first floor viewing room). As Walter swept the pipes, Jason heard an audible “scream” come from the secondary bedroom. Jason was the only member to hear this scream, but it was caught by the DS-2 Jason was carrying, and the video camera Tony was recording with. This is not considered by our organization to be an EVP (an EVP by definition is an Electronic Voice Phenomenon which indicates the capture of a disembodied voice on audio while not hearing the voice live).
The question remains, where did this “scream” come from (further investigating later on showed that voices and sounds could not be heard from outside the house, so this sound had to have come from inside the location with us).
We then proceeded to go into the master bedroom (this is the bedroom where the “child ghost” was said to have been seen by the witness). We swept the master bedroom and found some minor EMF fluxes at the window side of this room (this was later found to be wires coming from the street into the house at this point).
Once we swept this room for about fifteen minutes, we then proceeded to head for the door that led to the attic. This door is where the witness claimed to have heard screams and cries, that of a little girl. We entered the attic space and swept this room as we did all the others. We took EMF readings (they were normal), EVP recordings, pictures, video, and set up stationary audio recorders.
Jason found a small white golf ball in the second floor master bedroom that he took to the attic and placed loosely in a pile of sawdust that was already on the floor (this is known as a trigger object) (Trigger Object – to take an object and to place the object in a noted location to observe a noted change in its position.) Once we swept the attic and felt we collected enough for the time, we headed for the kitchen to warm up and regroup.
While in the kitchen warming up, Tony and Jamie wanted to step outside. Walter ended up joining them and had the idea to check out the house from the outside, so he and Tony started to check for EMFs from wiring leading into the house from the street. They found there to be a very high level of EMFs emitting from the phone lines coming into the home.
At this time, Jason and Jamie took a walkie-talkie and went up to the master bedroom. This was done so we could make sure of our bearings as to what lines were coming into what parts of the home. We also had Walter and Tony scream as loud as they could and talk from the street outside to see if they could be heard. They could not, we had to communicate via the walkie-talkies, Jason and Jamie could not hear them from inside the home. Jason and Jamie went back to the kitchen to regroup with Tony and Walter.
Investigation Stage 2
Once we warmed up, dumped the pictures and audio onto the laptop, and got new batteries; we resumed the investigation for stage two. Normally our team starts at either the top of the location or the bottom and work our way up or down the entire location. This way every floor and room is identified and swept in order.
This sweep was started in the ex-viewing room on the first floor. We chose to start there based upon the history of the location. Most hauntings seem to be connected to emotion, and the viewing room is where the family would gather. We started taking readings. Temps were steady, pictures were taken, and Tony recorded video. What was of interest at this time was that Jason was using dowsing rods and Wally was sweeping for EMFs. Both indicated an increase in activity on the left side on the room.
Our earlier sweep indicated EMFs on the right side of the room where the two pipes were located. This time, both the EMF detector and dowsers pointed to the left corner of the room. Jason indicated this with the dowsers by walking through the room. The dowsers consistently pointed to that corner of the room. Even when Jason exited the room, the dowser’s continued to point through the wall to that corner from the other room.
Walter’s EMF detector also registered a reading that buried the needle. These readings were very commonplace throughout the rest of the home as well. These types of high EMF readings are not normally found in other locations. This home just seemed to have a very strangely high occurrence of these readings, and this room corner was one area where these high readings seemed to converge. (Extra note: the power was off in this entire location, which is usually a high source for emitted EMFs)
Sadly though, neither the pics nor the video came up with anything at this time. We then headed to the center room. Jamie and Tony went into the kitchen while I was still in the ex-viewing room. Walter was just passing through the center room and as he passed by the stairwell to the second floor, Walter heard a cry/sigh come from the second floor. He immediately told the three of us, but none of us heard the sound, only Walter.
We quickly got all our things and went up to the second floor. Everything on the second floor seemed normal at this time except for one thing. We didn’t see it at the time, but when the 35mm pictures were developed, two of them had abnormalities. Here are the two pictures:
We then decided to go into the attic. Jason and Jamie started towards the attic door (which was closed) while Walter and Tony were still in the secondary bedroom finishing up an EMF sweep. While Jason and Jamie talked in front of the attic door, they both simultaneously heard a cry/sigh. This time they both heard the sound and immediately looked at each other for that “Did you hear what I just heard?” recognition. Tony and Walter heard nothing, but then joined Jason and Jamie and went into the attic.
When in the attic, Walter and Tony started saying that it looked to them that the golf ball had moved, while Jason and Jamie confirmed that is where is was placed when they left. This caused some issues, so Jason decided to take a pile of the sawdust, make a mound of it, and wedge the golf ball into it. Both Jamie and Jason tested the ball by jumping, blowing on it, we even went to the master bedroom and quickly pulled the attic door open to see if a draft would move the ball, but it was secure and not going anywhere unless purposefully moved.
Now that the ball was documented in a location and secured, the team headed back to the kitchen to again get warmed. We got warm, refreshed our batteries, dumped off images and audio, etc.
Investigation Stage 3
When we were regrouped and ready, we headed for the stairway that leads to the second floor. At the stairway, we turned on the equipment and addressed Jason’s DS-2, and just as we did, we heard a “Thump”. We didn’t know what made the thump, but we did know that it came from upstairs where no one was and there was nothing that could have fallen.
We proceeded to the second floor and found nothing in any of the rooms. So now it was off to the attic. We went up the stairs and we were all shocked by the fact that we found the golf ball approximately two feet from the small mound of sawdust that we placed it in. We swept the attic for any EMFs, but didn’t find anything more intense than what we found earlier that night. We also checked the two recorders that we left in the attic.
We found that the micro cassette recorder’s tape ended and the recorder stopped. We also found that Tony’s digital audio recorder was off as well. The micro-cassette being stopped was expected, but the digital recorder has an incredibly long battery life, and also records for 8 hours on the highest quality setting. Yet, when we went back and checked the times of everything, we found that the digital recorder stopped recording at the very same time we noted the bang of the ball being dropped. We also know for a fact that we installed new batteries in the digital recorder as we do with all of our equipment. These batteries were dead now.
After sweeping the attic for a little while, we decided to split up and just sit in silence for a little while. Jason and Jamie went to the master bedroom and Walter and Tony stayed in the attic. This proved uneventful. We all then decided that we had collected plenty of evidence for this investigation, so we packed up all of our equipment and left the location.
Our Conclusion
This house investigation was simply amazing. We had a trigger object actually move and get dropped. We also had batteries mysteriously drain in our audio recorders, we heard a voice of a small child as described by the resident who use to live there, and we caught what we believe are a few possible EVPs and photo anomalies.
We had a lot of fun during this investigation and it was very rewarding in being able to gather such great evidence and to experience paranormal phenomenon first hand. We definitely conclude that this place is haunted based off of all the evidence and experiences we encountered that simply cannot be explained away by natural means.
Our Take
Walter
This investigation was by far the most exciting and challenging one I think we have ever conducted up to this point. A few of us even came away with personal experiences. The house had no utilities or furnishing and it was freezing cold inside. We were however able to work around that challenges, pull off a great investigation and come away with a lot of evidence. I was very proud of our overall performance.
The house seemed very morbid and abandoned to me from the fact it was a former funeral home and was very dark and cold inside. Keeping ourselves warmed proved to be a challenge. It was pain to get a kerosene heater working.
I wish we were able to video tape the golf ball being moved to prove to none believers (myself included) that a paranormal force of some kind moved that ball. It just kind of blew us all away but I’m still not completely convinced a spirit moved it since I didn’t see it move myself.
However, I didn’t come away unscathed by activity. I thought that I heard the voice of small child from upstairs while I was on the first floor near the stairwell. I’m not too sure what to think of that and if I believe what I heard.
Jamie
Our first “official” investigation. This will always have a place in my memories. One thing I do have to tell you is that it was COLD. And not a paranormal cold… just cold. Thank god for the heaters we had as that was the only way we were able to get through this investigation.
We came away with an awesome experience too. The golf ball dropping was crazy. I never thought we would experience something like that though I do wish we had a stationary camera at the time. After trying to debunk this golf ball evidence, I believe this was our first personal paranormal experience as a team.
Jay
H1-1 was one of the first investigations we recorded and documented as a team named SPLAT. And to date, this is still one of the most impressive. We went into the case with the story from the homeowner that she saw the apparition of a young girl sitting on the clothes hamper by her bed and would hear cries and sighs from the attic which also was right by her bed. Well, the short of the story is that three of the four of us audibly heard the sigh and cries from the second floor. I personally heard the sounds twice, once at the start of the investigation and the second when Jamie and I were talking in front of the attic door…we both heard the sighs at the same time and just looked at each other. In relation to the sighs and the report of the apparition, we got images of a mist that is of interest. One of the mists is located right where the hamper was located, and the second image has a mist coming from the attic door. This mist is only in two pictures.
The most intriguing occurrence of the night was when Jamie and I set up a golf ball in a pile of sawdust on the attic floor. We went downstairs and did some work down there. Later that night, we heard that ball hit the floor. When we went to check it out, we found the golf ball about two feet from the spot it was set, and there were pot marks down through the sawdust indicating the bouncing of the ball. There’s more about the situation that I could get into such as the high EMFs we got at the time of the ball dropping and other issues, but when it comes down to it, the night was eventful.
The regret I have with this investigation is that we didn’t have enough equipment to document everything the way we should have. The ball drop was only caught on audio. We should have had video running on the ball. There are also several other areas that we made big mistakes. But, we have learned from those mistakes. I also regret that we lost the house. We never made it back into the home for a follow-up. The bank took control of the home and we couldn’t go onto the property. But, either way we learned allot, had an amazingly fun experience, and gathered some terrific evidence. The team also worked as a team…that is the best part. Jamie, Tony, Wally…I have to thank each of you for this kick start to the evolution of SPLAT. Without all the hard work from this moment on, we wouldn’t have gotten as far as we have.
Audio Evidence
Photographic Evidence
Investigation Notes
Location: East Connemaugh Borough of Johnstown, PA
Date & Time: March 9th, 2007 5:00PM to 1:00AM
Weather Conditions: clear, around 40 degrees, calm wind
Moon Phase: waning gibbous moon
Solar X-rays: Normal
Geomagnetic Field: Quiet
Investigators Present: Jason Thornton, Jamie Muscatello, Tony Muscatello, Walter Hutsky
Equipment Used: Olympus DS-2 Digital Audio Recorder, CEM DT-880 Infrared Thermometer, Samsung Maxima Zoom 90 GL 35mm Camera, Nikon CoolPix 4800, Extech Infrared IR301 Stem Thermometer, Cell Senor EMF Meter, Energizer 6 LED Headlamps, dowsing rods, Canon PowerShot S500 Digital Elph, HP PhotoSmart 120, Olympus WS300M Digital Voice Recorder, Sony ICD-P210, RCA RP530A, Radio Shack Micro-29 Voice Activated Index Micro Cassette Recorder, Sony TCM-S64V Analog Voice Recorder, Canon Elura 60, Midland 14 Channel FRS Transceiver 75-507 SpeakEasy Micro II, Midland GXT600 Transceivers, compass
Evidence/Data:
Personal Experiences: 3
Jason, Jamie and Walter all heard unexplained voices
Samsung Maxima Zoom 90 GL 35mm Camera: 50 images/2 anomalous images with mist
Canon PowerShot S500 Digital Elph: 50 images/no evidence
Nikon CoolPix 4800: 93 images/no evidence
2 audible sounds
1 de-bunked EVP
No video evidence was found during this investigation.
