January 27, 2002
Kenneth City
By Brandy Buchanan
Published in Bayside News
There was always something a little different about the home on 49th Avenue in Kennith City. Sometimes, it manifested in a lingering sensation of being watched, at others it was captured in the sound of footsteps walking down the hall. To homeowner Kay F. these simply became part of the house she had lived in for the past 30 years.
However, when activity started to increase, culminating in an orb image that appeared on a picture taken of family Christmas Day, she called in the SPIRITS to investigate.
This haunting was different from others recently experienced by the team. The potential entity was very subtle about revealing itself, and the list of individuals possibly haunting the area was small.
The house was built in 1952 on land once belonging to an old orange grove. The couple who built it sold it to the current owner, who has lived in the home since. No deaths or acts of physical violence were recorded on the property.
Much of the haunting activity started in 2001 when Kay decided to remodel the bathroom to the master bedroom. Upon tearing out part of the bathroom wall a razor storage space was revealed. Common to older houses, the storage consisted of nothing more than a slit in the wall where used razors were dropped and held in a hollowed out section of the wall. The cartridges simply remained where they fell, as there was no access to the area without removing sections of the siding to retrieve them.
As the wall was pulled out, Kay’s son-in-law, supervising the work, was startled to hear conversations between several unseen people going on in the living room. He also heard footsteps touring every room around him, though there was no one else in the home at the time.
The construction workers also complained of an undefined unease. Exasperated and frightened, the man laying tiles literally jumped out of the bathroom one afternoon, believing that there was someone else standing just behind him. The son-in-law, also experiencing similar sensations within the room, found himself trying to convince the poor man to stay and finish the job.
Then began the popping sounds and the creaking floorboards, until then sounds foreign to the house.
And there were the instances when Kay felt someone or something jumping onto the bed next to her. Unable to determine the culprit, and feeling no threat, however, she “simply rolled over and went back to sleep.”
Shortly before the SPIRITS arrived, the popping sounds were heard. The pipes in this same bathroom clogged and backed up, causing a miniature flood to spread into the master bedroom. As the mess was cleaned up, Kay opted to continue with the investigation as planned.
EMF (electromagnetic fields) readings in the house were minimal. There were no fluctuations in temperature, though a tapping sound was heard coming from master bathroom. Upon requesting the potential entity to reproduce the noises, nothing was heard.
Electronic recordings and video scans also produced little in the way of results. However, digital and 35 mm film did pick up several anomalous images. Orbs appeared in the film of two individual teammates’ cameras. One photo showed three orbs above the head of team member, resting on the bed in the haunted room. Another created lighter orbs next to a cabinet located just outside the area.
During the interview, the SPIRITS learned a little more about the previous tenants. A very unusual couple, they had sold the house to Kay, then asked to live there during the time that their house was completed. They remained in the home an additional 8 months until Kay requested they leave as she had agreed to host a wedding in the house. The day she moved in, they moved out.
In addition, the man returned to the home on three separate occasions, claiming to have left behind various tools in the garage. After the third such visit, Kay requested that he take a final look around for it would be his final time in her home.
It was, more than likely, his old razors deposited into the bathroom wall. Could it be that the former owner, already past middle age when he sold the house to Kay, has come back to revisit it in death over 30 years later?
It is also interesting to note that construction done the year prior to her kitchen produced no such activities. Could it be the intimacy of the razors that have brought the spirit back? DNA from skin, blood, and hair undoubtedly clings to the razors’ edges.
Or, is some other force at work here?
As long as the activity remains benign, Kay is all right with her unseen house guest.
“I just hope he approves of the way I am remodeling the home. I think the changes are very nice. I’m sure he must, too.”
History of the location:
An elderly couple by the name of J.B.H. built the house on the sight of a former orange grove in the
late 1950’s and the current owner has lived there for the past 34 years consistently. The couple she
bought the house from showed odd behavior after the transaction in the form of draperies being
slashed and the old man returning on several occasions to retrieve tools that he said he never sold
with the house. Perhaps he was just noising around to see what all had been done to his former
home. The current owner allowed the H’s to stay in the home after the sale while they fixed up their
new apartment. After several months of occupancy she asked them to move out because a family
member wished to have her wedding in the home. The H’s were furious when asked to leave and this
led to the drape incident mentioned above. The H’s were not very nice people from the owner’s
interactions with them.
The current owner, as well as her family, has a history a psychic/paranormal activity. She has
had one lucid dream that she can recall that involved St. Theresa and is aware of upcoming deaths in
the family from the scent of funerary flowers she receives even though no such flowers are ever
around at the time. She has had no NDE or OBE.
Reported Activity:
Creaking/ popping type noise has been heard throughout the house but the source can never be
found. I myself heard this noise as we prepared for the hunt. This has been happening over the last
several years.
Jan. 27, 2002 in the am the owner stated she felt as if some thing/one had jumped into bed with her.
She said it feels like a dog had hopped on the bed. This has happened several times.
August 1972 the owner’s daughter and her family were staying at the home with the daughter and her
husband in the Master Bedroom and their two boys in the Florida Room. The daughter stated a
black mass approached her from the front Living Room window and she suffered a suffocating
feeling while not being able to move. She could not wake her husband while this was happening. She
was finally able to move and began to scream and punch her husband who still did not wake up. The
boys began to scream and this woke the husband. The mass retreated when the husband woke.
2001 the owner’s son in law was supervising the remodeling of the Master Bath by a local
contractor. When the drywall was removed they found many old razor blades inside it and felt they
had belonged to the previous owner. On this day the son in law heard a conversation among several
people that started out in the Living Room/Dining Room area and moved throughout the house. He
stated that even though he could not make out any words distinctly the two most prominent voices
were male. He also heard footsteps through out the house as if they were taking a tour.
During the remodeling the contractor stated on several occasions that he had the strong feeling of
being watched while working. At one point he literally jumped out of the bathroom stating “There’s a
man in there!” The son in law checked but found nothing and it was all he could do to keep the
contractor from walking off the job. Upon further questioning the contractor stated that he felt a man
standing over him and watching him intently as he worked. The feeling grew stronger and stronger
and he couldn’t take it any more so he ran out of the bathroom.
The son in law stated that on several occasions he felt as if a male presence was in the Master
Bedroom/Bath with him while he finished up the remodeling.
November 2001 during a birthday party for the owner’s daughter I felt the presence of a male
standing in the Master Bedroom doorway looking out at us while we sat in the Living Room.
Christmas Eve 2001 an orb was photographed with the daughter as she stood in front of the
Christmas tree.
Investigation Report
Current owner, Mrs. F., has lived there for 34 years. The house was built in 1957 by an elderly couple who were the only other prior owners. The house was built over an orange grove.
A Native American transient lived in the back room for 6 months, in 1999. He was described as giving off a creepy sort of energy. Her son has lived in the guest room in the past, though was treated for a drug and alcohol problem. He had the illnesses when he lived with her. Her daughter and son-in-law also visit frequently and will live with her for a time until they move into their new home.
The former owners of the home were quite eccentric. Talked badly about the current owner to neighbors (should have gotten more money out of the widow). Current owner allowed them to live in the house from Oct. to June, provided they pay the mortgage, because they said the new house was not ready yet. When current owner needed the house to hold a wedding, the former owners resented the “imposition.” Did not move out until the last minute, literally having their things removed and the new owner had things put in the house. Took out and cut drapes before they left. The man came back on 3 different occasions claiming to have left tools behind in the garage. On the third trip, current owner said enough was enough and he stopped coming around. The man was described as tall, 6 feet or so, thin, homely, scraggly. He did seem to display some obsessive behaviors towards the house, being unwilling to leave it at first, then returning so often for “tools”.
Unusual activity: Noises, creaking for the past couple of years. Sounds of footsteps walking up and down the hall. Sensation (twice) of a dog or someone jumping/sitting on bed, once the night before the investigation. The day of the investigation, the plumbing had backed up and leaked all over the bathroom in question, which was cleaned up prior to our arrival.
Daughter, Karen, had a dark encounter in 1972. The event was related to outside phenomena, including her husband use of the ouija board in prior incidents, an other family use of the ouija board. That night, while staying in her Mom’s house, a dark cloud came towards her, tried to suffocate her. She could not wake husband through yelling, finally able to grab on to him which woke him up. However, he did not remember her being there and went to check on their babies. Lee was OK, incident did not happen again.
In 2001, remodeling was being done on the house. Bathroom in back bedroom was torn out. Lee, a sensitive, heard voices of a conversation (mostly male), footsteps walking all over the house, when the back wall was torn open. The wall had hundreds of razor blades in a disposable container (common to older houses) walled up in the building. The man who was working on the tile during the remodeling was often spooked, and left the room once believing someone else was in there.
The kitchen was also remodeled several years ago and nothing happened during that time period.
The owner has had several unusual experiences. She saw a dark shadow/cloud manifest in her bedroom when her husband was dying, knew it was a death premonition, and believes I was his mother come back to get him. This happened in a house up north.
She has had a lucid dream (reversing events of a forest fire), and had a dream of St. Theresa coming to see her, to take her to Heaven.
Also has premonitions of death because she smells funeral flowers.
Investigation:
A small dog belonging to the Easts was on the premises, and showed no fear of the home. He moved about all rooms freely. However, owners say that he shows little fear of the supernatural.
Lee picked up the idea of a male entity named “Bill” who was one possible entity haunting the area. Bill was strongest in he bedroom, which was also the former owner’s room. Lee described him as tall, scraggly, thin, with gray and black-streaked hair. Disheveled.
During the investigation, knocking was heard against the bathroom wall that sounded to be generated internally. During an EVP when we requested noises be replicated they were not for either Brandy or Sandy. This was the same wall where razors were found, and that the plumbing was held that overflowed that day. Could be natural causes, though Lee and Karen did not think it was due to the pipes.
Sandy picked up on the entity in a prior visit, and felt an old man’s presence was in the area of the doorway. She also sensed the idea of “transient” in the back room, which was only later confirmed by the owner. (Until then, no history of the house was known). Part of this “sense” manifested in a 9 degree temp difference between Sandy’s two hands, which quickly faded as witnessed by teammated holding temp. sensor. Sandy picked upon negative energy in one corner of the guest room, later told that the son who had the drug and alcohol problem slept in that corner of the room.
Sandy sensed the presence in the bedroom, and noted indents in the bed (could or could not have been there before the hunt).
Not much in the form of EMF nor temp. fluctuations.
EVP probably will not turn much up. Too much noise in the area to be validated.
Results: Orbs appeared in several images. I picked up three orbs over the bed where Lee sat using my digital camera — very rare, as the camera has not captured any other images for me. This particular snapshot occurred with photos taken before and after developing without any orbs appearing. Lens was cleaned before hunt, no other orbs in any other pics. A mist image was picked up during the time that Sandy “sensed” someone sitting on the bed with her. Other anomalous pictures appeared, including a strange “line” image in the bedroom closet, orb images with Lee and Karen.
My opinion: I think that the prior owner of the home displayed possessive tendencies towards the house. His behavior is suspicious, especially living their long after the house ad sold (with permission from the owner), and coming back repeatedly (I suspect to see what was in the house and what changes had been made). I think that when the wall was opened, it released a spout of penned up psy energy, perhaps left over by the man. The razors would have had his DNA, having been so close to his skin. The event of the conversation, the walking all over the house, only happened the day the wall was opened, the bathroom and bedroom being intimately connected to him during the time he owned the house. The psy energy may have attracted his ghost, who visits from time to time….
It is possible that the current owner has atracted a spirit, perhaps a family member watching over her from the other side.
Haunting seems strongest in the bathroom bedroom area.
The back room has a place memory, which Sandy picked up on. The guest room has a similar place memory, both created by the turbulent personalities of men who lived there for extended periods of time during the current owner’s tenure. The house has not been cleansed, which might remove the negative energy.