Date Of Investigation: Saturday, January 12th, 2008
Investigation Site: Private Residence, Sheboygan, WI
Investigators Present: Amanda S, Matt S, and Michael O (Kettle Morraine Paranormal Guest Investigator)
Clients/Visitors Present: Client (J)
Equipment Used: Canon PowerShot AS60 Digital Camera, Olympus WS-300M Voice Recorders, Trifield Standard EMF Meter, Dual Infrared Non-Contact Thermometer/Air Probe Thermometer, Motion Sensors, Sony Handycam Camcorder, Sony Digital Voice Recorder
Weather Conditions: Snowing
Temperature Outside: 21 Degrees Farenheit
Wind Speed And Direction: WNW at 1.0 mph
Moon Phase: Waxing
Background: Residence is a two story home w/ basement built in 1889. The client (J) moved in in late 2007, and shortly after while she was cleaning her living room she thought she saw a shadowy figure out of the corner of her eye. She looked but there was nothing there. At first she thought it was just the post at the bottom of the stairs where she saw it, but then she realized what she saw was much taller than the post.
J and a friend (A) have also reported hearing voices in the kitchen and in the basement, and having creepy feelings. J's friend, who is 44 and was doing construction on the house, says none of the other houses he's worked on gave him this feeling. J was in bed one night and says she heard what sounded like a cat throwing up outside her room but both of her cats were asleep in the room with her at the time. J occupies the house by herself and her two cats.
Our Investigation: We arrived at 5PM and J gave us a walkthrough. Friend A arrived a little later and we interviewed both of them before going to supper. At about 9PM, we came back from dinner and went through and took base EMF and temp readings as we mapped out the house. We also looked for anything that could naturally explain the phenomena reported. Then we each took a floor and stayed in one place while we did a half hour of controlled audio recording with total silence. This was to familiarize ourselves with the regular sounds the house makes, in case we heard something later on. After this, A had to leave and we started our formal investigation.
We set motion detectors by the front stairs where the shadow was seen and we had another in an upstairs attic called the "Green Room" because it was all painted green. Michael also had his video camera set at the top of the stairs looking down.
Next we went in the basement to do EVP circles while we took pictures and readings. After that, we went up to the main floor and tried debunking some of the noises that were heard. We ended our investigation by doing another EVP circle in the Green Room. The investigation ended around midnight.
Findings/Personal Experiences: When Michael was sitting in the Green Room during our half hour of controlled silence, he said he felt cold, then dizzy. He felt like there was someone there. He noticed the door move a bit but said it could have been a breeze. The room had holes in the walls and it was already cold. He thought he felt something touch his hair, leg, and back. Then when he came back down, he told Amanda to try sitting up there for 15 minutes alone to see if she experienced the same thing. When she came back down she said she just felt a little dizzy, but that might have been from the fresh paint. Other than that, she didn't experience anything else.
Final Analysis: The house is on a busy street, and all the traffic that goes by could create infrasound. Infrasound is inaudible, low-frequency sound, and is known to give people uneasy, even creepy, feelings. It's also known to make your eyeball vibrate so you can see shadowy figures out of the corner of your eye. We think this may explain the shadow and the uncomfortable feelings in the house, though we would need to test for it using the proper equipment.
As for the voices, the house isn't very soundproof. While in the basement Amanda and Matt were able to hear singing from far away. Later on, Michael and Amanda heard the same thing in the kitchen. Then Michael was sent outside to make some noise to see if we could hear him from the kitchen. We couldn't hear him, but then later we thought we heard people talking and Michael was sent out again. This time he radioed and said there were people outside the bar across the street. We think this is where we heard the music from. So while you wouldn't be able to hear one of the neighbors right outside if you have all the windows closed, we think that if there is enough noise it can be heard. Since we were unable to hear Michael outside before from the kitchen, and the sounds were faint enough, we weren't sure where they were coming from and thought they were coming from inside the house. We were not able to recreate the sound that was heard of a cat throwing up, since we weren't there when it was heard and it didn't happen again.