CASE FILE #:  2007-1

PRIVATE HOME – HOUGHTON LAKE, MI May 7, 2007

Homeowner has owned the home since 1979 but now uses the property as a rental and the new renters were expected to move in the day after the investigation.  This did limit us as far as time was concerned, we only had a few hours and the investigation had to be done during the day.  Homeowner very knowledgeable about the property’s past and had already done much of the research herself, which was very helpful.  Please note: because this was our first investigation, we were missing several pieces of equipment that we had yet to buy…the homeowner was aware of this but was very appreciative that we could come out and see the home before it was rented.

BRIEF HISTORY:
The home was built by Mr. Barkman in approximately 1929, who committed suicide J(by jumping out of an airplane) because of severe losses in the stock market.  Apparently Mr. Barkman liked his cigars.  When he owned the home, there were maid/servant quarters behind the house in separate buildings which have long since been torn down.  There was also a carriage house on the far side of the house, off the back room, but was torn down long ago. Much remodeling was done after the current homeowner bought the home in 1979. 

PHENOMENA REPORTED:
*All the window blinds in bedroom #2 (there are 2 windows, on separate walls and facing in different directions) violently rolled up by themselves at the exact same time, scaring her children, who were playing in the room at the time.  The windows were shut at the time and the children were very scared.
*Frequently smelled cigar smoke throughout the house.
*A small radio began to play when it was unplugged and, when checked, had no batteries.
*Bedroom #2 door would slam shut inexplicably when no windows were open to create a cross breeze and no one was near the door.
*There was often a lilac smell in the winter.
*Frequent electrical disturbances.
*Recent cigar smell noted by three witnesses in the garage area which is separate from the house.

Note: Interestingly, the homeowner had a dream that she bought and was moving into the house 3-4 months before she actually was shown the house to buy.  At the time of the dream, she didn’t even live near the same area where the house was, nor had she ever seen the house physically or in pictures before the dream.

EQUIPMENT USED:
Digital camera; Sony camcorder with night vision; blacklight light bulbs; room type thermometer with external sensor; analog tape recorder.

METER READINGS:
We did not own an EMF meter at the time, so we had no EMF readings.  The temperature stayed pretty much at 68-70, the baseline for all rooms. 

VIDEO:
Video was used throughout the home as well as in the basement and looking out the back porch into the back yard, but since there were no experiences in the yard or outside the house/garage, we restricted video of these areas.  Nothing abnormal was found in the basement or any other area of the house.  A blacklight light bulb was used in conjunction with night vision while filming in the basement.

AUDIO:
Absolutely no voices or extra sounds found  on audio.








PICTURES :
The only abnormality was a blue mist-like area near the floor in the hallway leading to bedroom #3.  This could very possibly be light reflecting through a side window, although the house was empty and there was nothing blue to reflect off of.  It was written off as a light reflection. 

SUMMARY:
Overall, the home was very nice, very comfortable.  No real abnormalities were found on our investigation, however the history of the house was very interesting as were the homeowner’s descriptions of past paranormal experiences.  We have been invited back at any time to re-investigate, now that we have all of our equipment, as soon as the renters move out.
                CASE FILE #:  2007-2

VACATION HOME – NEAR ROSCOMMON, MI  NOV 2, 2007

The homeowners contacted us via our website.  They actually live outside of Michigan but use the property near Roscommon as a vacation home and are in Michigan frequently.  Although we were still trying to build our equipment base, we agreed to do the investigation as long as the homeowners understood it would be several more months before we had the rest of our equipment.  They understood and were very excited to have us come out immediately to do an investigation.  We considered our first visit there to be preliminary, although we did do a full investigation at that time.  Very nice family, lots of help with history of the property and very interested in what we were doing, however at the family’s request, no more personal information will be posted.

BRIEF HISTORY:
(see above)

PHENOMENA REPORTED:
*Several family members reported being touched when no one was there, at separate times and in different situations, usually a touch on the arm or shoulder.  One family member reported feeling someone brush up against them in the kitchen, as if someone had passed behind them close to their back, but when they turned, no one was there.
*Feeling of being uncomfortable and unable to sleep in the back bedroom, which is where a family member passed away some time ago.
*The property has been in the family for many years.  The homeowner’s son reported when he was a small child, there was a trailer home that was at the back of the property and all the kids in the family were afraid of it, even the dogs would growl at the doorway and bark from the yard.  When he was about 5 years old, he was sent out to the trailer to get something.  The family heard him screaming and when they got to the trailer he was alone but said he had seen a monster-like man in the trailer and that was all her could remember.

EQUIPMENT USED:
Sperry EMF meter; T2 type thermocouple; digital camera; sony camcorder with night vision; digital voice recorder; laser level; blacklight light bulbs

WEATHER/ASTROLOGICAL READINGS:
Temperature outside was 35-40 degrees that night, wind was at 7 mph SW.  Moon phase was last quarter with 41% illuminated and rose at 12:41 a.m./set at 3:30 p.m.  Sun rise was 8:17 a.m./set at 6:26 p.m.

METER READINGS:
Baseline remained throughout the house except in the back bedroom, which is where a family member passed away.  Over the bed, readings were inconsistent and ranged from 2 to 3 over the middle of the bed, then up to 4 over the pillows, then up to 5 to 7 over the middle of the bed while we were attempting to get EVPs.  There was an old fuse box on the far side of the room which is close to where the bed was.  EMF readings by the box reached over 100 as well as near an old wind up alarm clock that was on the other side of the bed, on a dresser.  While the fuse box could have influenced the fluctuations over the bed, when we did temperature readings in the bedroom, they ranged from 59 to 61 as the room baseline and over the bed, but went up to 67 periodically and inconsistently between the bed and the bedroom door, then stayed fairly consistent around 63 during EVPs.  While doing EVPs, a scratching was heard on






the outside wall of the bedroom and the investigator asking questions got a tingling in her right hand (not the hand holding the recorder) but her hand stayed warm.  Otherwise, no other abnormal EMF or thermocouple readings.

VIDEO:
We placed the camcorder in the dining room, facing down the hall toward the back bedroom door.  A blacklight light bulb was placed in a hanging lamp and left in the bedroom to create a slight light under the door, so that while we were in the kitchen/dining room, we could record any movement of shadows from under the door.  None were found, however there was a light abnormally that appeared between the entrance of the hallway and theedge of the dining room, which is where the camcorder was setup.  The abnormality is very white, seemed to be self-lit, was about the size of a   finger and in the shape of an L.  It appears to be solid.  One investigator was sitting next to the camera tripod looking toward the bedroom door and never saw anything flying by.  Another investigator was leaning against the kitchen sink, facing the area where the abnormality was found, and never saw anything floating around either.  No other movement in the area.  (video clip will be posted soon).  The object was too consistently shaped and never shifted shape (meaning the L shape never bent to a straight line or altered in any way).  It moved slowly from the right side of the picture parallel to the kitchen table, then moved at an angle to the left straight up toward the ceiling, then disappeared.  It was way too large for a bug or particle of dust and wasn’t close enough to the lens to distort the picture or make the edges appear fuzzy.  At this time, it is unexplained.

AUDIO:
There were no audio abnormalities or EVPs found.

PICTURES :
We took lots of pictures, filled two memory cards.  Note:  our team is not very big on ‘orbs’ unless they fit the definition of a ‘real’ paranormal energy orb, so please read our explanations on the pictures that show ‘orbs’ before commenting or emailing us. 

There were a few things found on analysis and they are as follows:  (1)  this is considered a dust orb because, even though it is very bright, it doesn’t appear to be lit from within, nor does it appear to be in motion, it is slightly transparent and has a tell-tale nucleus/cell appearance.  (2) there appears to be a white object on the left side of the photo that would be unexplained.  All that was on that wall was pine paneling and no one in our group had anything that was white on.  The investigator taking the picture was blonde, and you can see a few strands of hair on the left above the white object, but this same investigator was totally in black.  There were no camera straps on the camera nor did the investigator have her finger over the lens.  We have no explanation for this, however this is the bedroom we found all the EMF/temperature fluctuations in, and in which a family member passed away.  (3) This, too, appears to be an orb, but what sets it apart from the first one is that it appears to be in motion.  It is only slightly brighter than the other ‘orbs’ we found and appears to have the same basic ‘cell’ look to it.  It has been discounted as a probable ladybug (there were many dead ladybugs in the house).  (4) this picture excited me at first because Id never seen anything like it before.  I attempted to research and find something
similar with other teams/investigators, but was unable to find anything even remotely similar.  Thanks to Roger, a very good friend who is also an investigator, who was kind enough to give me his opinion and I have to agree, it appears that this is probably just a reflection of the IR light on the door hinge.  Kind of a cool picture, though.  Interestingly, there were three pictures taken in succession from the same position, same distance from the door, and this was the only one with any reflection of this kind.

SUMMARY:
The investigation was somewhat short, only about four hours, mainly because there was very little heat and we were very cold after four hours, but also because it was a very small house trailer and we felt we had thoroughly covered everything.  We all felt uncomfortable there, uneasy feelings, especially in the back bedroom, but also in the small guest bedroom off the hall, of which no abnormal readings were found.  When we called to set up the ‘reveal,’ the homeowners son said he had had another experience shortly after we were there, whereas he felt someone touching his shoulder and leaning on him.  We are still hopeful the family will contact us again so that we can come back out and investigate further.
                CASE FILE #:  2008-1

PRIVATE HOME, ST HELEN, MI  Jan 11, 2008

The homeowner called us because she had been experiencing quite a few things in the house that made her wonder what was going on exactly.  These things increased after her mother passed away in the house.  Several family members had spoken about being uncomfortable in certain areas of the house so she finally decided to call.

BRIEF HISTORY:
The property has been in the family for 22 years.  The homeowners mother owned the house until she died in 1996, then the house was passed on to the current homeowner. 

PHENOMENA REPORTED:
*shadows moving and apparitions of people appearing just out of the corner of the eye.
*feeling of being watched.
*ceiling fan pull swinging on its own, no windows open.
*someone shaking the bed until the person sleeping in it woke up (this was reported after our initial investigation)
*feeling of someone leaning over the shoulder and breathing in the ear.

EQUIPMENT USED:
Sperry EMF meter; T2 type thermocouple; digital camera; sony camcorder with night vision; analog voice recorder with external mic; laser level; blacklight light bulbs

WEATHER/ASTROLOGICAL READINGS:
Temperature outside was 32 degrees with 80% humidity. Wind was at 12 mph W.  The area had gotten a few inches of snow the night before.  Moon phase was waxing crescent.  Moon rise at 10:06 a.m./set at 8:58 p.m.  Sun rise was 8:12 a.m./set at 5:18 p.m.

METER READINGS:
There were some odd readings obtained on this investigation.  The first team to go into a bedroom had the thermocouple unit set to Celsius, but was a steady 22 to 25 degrees Celsius.  Later in the evening, around 10:40 p.m., there were some odd thermocouple readings.  The living room baseline was around 78 degrees steady, but by a rocking loveseat, the temperature seemed to go up to 86 to 88 degrees, then would return to normal.  Then in the same room, over by a side door that opened to the outside, where I would expect there to be a draft as there was also a wall of windows next to the door, the temperature readings were 88 to 89 degrees, then would return to normal.  At this same time, we used the laser level to detect any shadow movement with all the fluctuations and didn’t note any breaks in the
line.  Later in the evening, around 11:30, one investigator was in bedroom one and had a temperature reading of 67 degrees by his body, but the EMF meter held steady at 0.1 to 0.3, no other abnormalities noted.

VIDEO:
The camcorder was left in bedroom two with a blacklight on.  This is the room where there are many of the feelings of being watched.  No abnormalities were noted.

AUDIO:
Nothing was picked up on the camcorder as far as audio, but we did get quite a few EVPs that night, although they aren’t posted yet.  One voice sounds male, older, and the others sound female, some sound like a child.  None of the EVPs match the homeowners mother but until fully analyzed this is still unknown.  They were all obtained in the part of the house called the classroom (prior owner was an artist and held art classes in that room) and in the kitchen area.

PICTURES :
No picture abnormalities were noted.

PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS:
Around 1:30 a.m., we all settled into the classroom for quiet observation.  We kept hearing movement about 15’ across the room but when investigated with flashlights, nothing could be seen moving or having been moved.  Some very light scratches were heard, but we were unable to tell exactly where they were coming from.  There were a few slight unexplainable knocks on an outer wall that joins the garage to the house.  It is unknown for sure if there were any animals in the garage (like mice, squirrels or chipmunks nesting for the winter) although homeowner said no.  We heard a few sounds coming from the kitchen area, like someone was walking around, so that is when we put the voice recorder in the kitchen, and went back into the classroom to wait.  We let the tape recorder record until we ran out of tape, about 2:30 a.m.





SUMMARY:
This house does have a little bit of a freaky factor to it, especially bedroom two and, for some reason, the bathroom which opens into the far side of the kitchen.  The classroom was a little freaky feeling as well but not like the other two rooms.  Most of the activity we noticed was in the classroom and between the kitchen and bathroom.  We have been asked to come back again and we intend to do a follow up investigation as soon as the homeowner is ready.

UPDATE: 
While the homeowner was in the hospital in May 2008, her daughter slept at her house, in bedroom 2.  In the middle of the first night there, she had strange dreams that 3 ghosts were following her around, but no one could see them, then she dreamt that she was sleeping and they were trying to wake her up.  She said she woke up with a start because someone was shaking the bed at the foot of the bed.  She recently had sleep apnea testing and was told she frequently stops breathing.  She feels she was being woke up because she had stopped breathing.