Elsing's Second Hand Store
Date of Investigation: March 15, 2008
Investigation Site: Elsing's Second Hand Store,
Investigatiors present: Kurt and Krista.
Investigation Overview: Due to several unforeseen circumstances, the remaining members of Heartland Paranormal Investigations were unable to attend the investigation. Rather than reschedule it, Krista and I decided to do a small, two-person 'experimental' investigation where new techniques were tried in the hopes of increasing the amount of paranormal activity and to hopefully gather more substantial evidence. Some of these techniques included:
Doing quiet observation and trying to gather EVP with the lights on rather than off. Just about every investigation we have been on there, we usually did these in darkness. We thought that leaving the lights on while doing them could result in us possibly witnessing more visual phenomena.
While we were out to dinner with Vicky and Phil, a laptop computer was left in the furniture room. The laptop was loudly playing a loop of brown noise, pink noise, and white noise in an attempt to 'charge' the area for the investigation. Some researchers believe that even after the sound is shut off, the sound energy continues to remain in the area and may help EVPs come through better. Since some researchers also believe that playing an EVP out loud in the area where it was originally captured might also increase the activity in that area, several EVPs captured at the shop were also looped in among the noises.
During the investigation, the laptop was left running and the screen cycled through several 'emotionally charged' photographs. Photos of Abraham Lincoln, Civil War photos, Hitler, bodies on a battlefield, several very old photos of
Looking at our own past investigations and other group's investigation, it seems like a lot of audible phenomena that occurs happens while someone else is talking. Plus, several sensitives who have been in the shop have reported that the spirits there are tired of being asked to show themselves or to jump through hoops for investigators. So we decided to not actually 'ask' for EVP or other signs until later the evening, deciding rather on just sitting in locations, talking about other things, and observing the surroundings.
We arrived at the shop around
We arrived back at the shop around
During this time, Krista and I moved from area to area, talking, listening, and keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.
Vicky and Phil arrived back at the shop around
We shut off the lights and moved from floor to floor and from room to room, talking about things and trying not to openly 'ask' the spirits to show themselves.
Towards the end of the evening, around
While I make absolutely NO claim whatsoever about being psychic or being a sensitive, a word flashed into my head, and I told Krista and Vicky about it. Krista asked out loud if the word meant anything to the spirits, and right after asking that, a series of strange clicking or tapping sounds were heard in the hallway outside the book room. Nothing seemed to happen, so we continued to talk and ask questions. The room seemed to become very cold at times.
Shortly after this, I stated out loud 'if you are here with us right now, we would just like to say hi to you'. After asking another question after that one, Vicky started talking, and I heard what sounded like a young girl say 'hi!' while Vicky was speaking. I was lying on my back, and the sound seemed to come from behind me, which would be on the far side of the room, directly across from the door entering into the furniture room.
A few minutes after that, Vicky asked us if our eyes eve played tricks on us. We said that they sometimes did. Seconds after that, she stood up very spooked and said that she saw something on the other side of the room-which is right where I heard the 'hi!' come from. According to Vicky, it looked like a white fog or white mist that floated back and forth a bit before coming together in a solid object that seemed to have a head and a face. Krista couldn't see it because she had a hutch in her way, and I was lying on the ground looking up. By the time we looked in that area, whatever it was had already vanished, leaving Vicky very unsettled.
Krista started taking photos with her digital camera, only to notice that the brand new batteries had died after taking only two pictures.
Vicky started taking pictures, too. Krista was talking to Vicky, when I heard what sounded like a young child giggling coming from the same area where the shape was and where the 'hi!' was heard. Nobody else heard anything, and when Vicky and Krista started to talk again, I heard a second, louder giggle.
Vicky said that she saw the same mist again on the far side of the room, but Krista and I looked and couldn't see anything. Vicky said that it was there for a second and then vanished.
We continued to sit in the furniture room a while longer, eventually deciding to wrap it up for the evening.
Vicky slept in the toy room on the main floor, while Krista and I slept in the front room on the main floor.
At one point during the night, Krista heard what sounded like rapid breathing coming from right behind her when everyone else was asleep.
Personal Experiences:
During the time when Krista and I were moving from room to room and sitting and talking with the lights on, we both felt very uneasy in the back storage area of the basement, directly outside the two rooms that used to be bathrooms.
Also at that time, we both heard what sounded like someone moving around directly above us on the main floor.
There were several strange sounds (creaking, tapping, etc) throughout the night, but these could be explained as the building shifting, the heating ducts cooling off/heating up, or possible activity in the next building.
A clicking/tapping sound was heard in the basement hallway. It very easily could have been another random building sound, but it should be noted that it happened shortly before all of the other activity in the furniture room happened
I heard what sounded like a young girl say 'hi!' on the far side of the furniture room shortly after stating out loud that we were just there to say hi.
A few minutes after hearing the 'hi', Vicky saw a white fog or mist float around on the far side of the furniture room and come together into a form with a head and face. She was very spooked, but stayed with us in the furniture room
Shortly after this, Krista noticed that the fresh batteries she had put into her digital camera had died after taking only two pictures.
During this time, while Krista and Vicky were talking, I heard what sounded like a young child giggling on the far side of the room. When the talking started up again, I heard it again, but it seemed louder.
After going to bed for the night, Krista was laying on the floor in the front room and she heard what sounded like rapid breathing coming from directly behind her. Both Vicky and I were asleep at this time.
Auditory/Photo/Video/Physical Evidence:
Photographic Evidence: Vicky caught a photo of what appears to be an orb in motion directly behind her in the furniture room. She holds the original copy of the photo.
Video Evidence: None
Audio Evidence: 6 clips of possible audio phenomena were given to Vicky:
Stairs1: This (and the following 4 clips) were all caught on a digital recorder left on voice-activation on the basement steps during the evening's investigation. In this first clip, Krista and I were the only people in the building, and we were in the furniture room talking. You can hear us talking in the background, but at least three times during the clip (sometimes faintly), there is what also sounds like a female breathing very close to the recorder.
Stairs2: This clip happened shortly after the first one. Krista and I were in the furniture room, and I went upstairs to get a motion detector. A few seconds into the clip, there is the faint sound of the breathing again. And then right before I start walking up the steps, the same voice seems to exhale loudly.
Stairs3: After getting the motion detector, I walked back down the steps. In this clip, you can hear the same voice once again exhale loudly-almost in a frustrated or annoyed manner.
Stairs4: This one happened later in the evening after Vicky joined us for the investigation. The three of us are upstairs at this point talking. In the clip, the same voice from the other clips appears again, sounding almost like they are trying to say something.
Stairs5: This happens later in the evening. The recorder on the steps picks up another possible breath, although this one sounds different. This one doesn?t sound like the female voice, and this one sounds labored, like it?s gasping.
Toy: We aren't sure about this one. I left my recorder on voice-activation overnight in the furniture room while we slept. In this clip, you can hear the recording of the heat running, and then it stops and a voice shows up saying something that sounds like 'toy', and then it starts recording the heating sound again. We aren't sure about this one because it could be me. Before we went to sleep, I put the motion detector on at the top of the stairs, and I feel this recording could be me saying something like 'it's going'. Although, I don't think it sounds like me. So it could possibly be an EVP, or it could have a logical explanation. We decided to include it just in case it is a legitimate EVP.
Evidence Analysis:
Once again, as seems to be the case with investigations at Elsing's Second Hand Shop, the personal experiences we had outweigh the hard, factual evidence. But we did manage to get some possible audio clips this time, along with a possible paranormal picture that Vicky took during the investigation.
In my opinion, the audio clips are very, very interesting. Whatever it is making those sounds seems to be very close to the recorder-much closer than Krista and I were to it. Coupled with the fact that many people feel uneasy in the stairway area, we feel that these very well may be paranormal-based sounds. I am on the fence as whether or not to call these 'EVP's, however, as EVP usually means recognizable words or phrases. Whether or not these clips can accurately be called 'EVP', we cannot discount them. Something made these sounds, and as Krista and I were the only ones in the building when a majority of the clips were caught, we aren't sure who or what could have made them. If it had only happened once, I would have possibly wrote it off as a recorder glitch or something, but the same voice seemed to show up several times. We will try recreating them on the next visit to the shop, but for now, there does indeed seem to be a voice on there that we can't explain.
Vicky's photograph could very possibly be a glare off of something, but I personally tried recreating the photo quite a few times, and couldn't get anything that resembled the original. Photography is a tricky thing in paranormal research, any kind of anomaly can and will get labeled as 'glare', 'a dust orb', 'a camera glitch', etc. I don't know what to make of the photo, but I can attest to the fact that I went through about 20 pictures trying to recreate it, and I couldn't.
And, as always, there are the personal experiences we had in the shop. While the experiences we have there are usually pretty amazing, this time they seemed even stronger. This is especially true towards the end of the night when everything seemed to happen at once. The taps in the hallway, the room getting so cold, me hearing what sounded like a girl saying ?hi? and giggling, Krista's batteries dying, Vicky seeing the apparition-all of that happened during the same period. And while some people won't use personal experiences as 'evidence', we have always felt that the experiences we have there are far too significant to be discounted.
Final Analysis:
With each investigation we have at the shop, there is always something that happens that astounds us. This time, the investigation seemed more eventful than ever. The question I have now is whether or not some of the 'experiments' we ran were responsible for the amount of activity we had, or whether it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Or is it possible that whatever is there responded more because there were less people there, or was the increase in activity due to the energy in the shop being familiar with the people who were there that night?
We don't know.
It's obvious to us, though, that something is going on the shop. And with each investigation, we get a little bit closer to figuring out the truth.
Once again, we would like to thank Vicky and Phil for allowing us into their shop, and for the unbelievable hospitality they have always shown us. We love you guys.