Appleton Paranormal Investigations

Private Residence  -  Menasha, WI

August 21, 2009
 

Conclusion: 

(Note:  Psychic-medium observations and results of dowsing rod communication sessions are not included in our reports of evidence.  API determines its ultimate results based on scientific methods only)
 
 

VISUAL EVIDENCE:

A.P.I.’s visual evidence was minimal.  One photograph taken of the family room during the initial walkthrough of the home on 8-19-09 showed what appeared to be routine occurrences of photographic ‘orbs’.  Upon enhancing the photo, one orb in particular seemed to take on the characteristics of a human face.  (Please see our evidence page for this investigation for an enhance image of this orb)  Interestingly, the orb captured was in the exact same location in the room as two other pieces of information / evidence gathered during our investigation:  a psychically-felt ‘doorway’ where one of our mediums felt entities were possibly entering the home from, and a distinct EVP caught during a single investigator’s vigil which captured what sounded like an exhalation in close proximity to the recording device.  The investigator was across the room during the recording session which eliminated the possibility that the sound could have come from any human entities present in the residence.

Besides the one photograph, there was an unusual amount of orb activity captured on our video cameras during the evening.  The home is kept exceptionally clean, so the amount of such orbs was a surprise to our investigators.  We were, however, unable to correlate this orb activity to anything distinctly paranormal in nature as there were no specific corroborating experiences.
 

AUDIO EVIDENCE:

A.P.I . was able to capture several EVPs throughout the evening. 

EVP #1 was captured during the initial part of the investigation when we had two investigators and the client in the living room area.  The EVP that was captured was only a sound, not a voice, and sounded like a higher-pitched whistle or cat-meow.  While there are two cats in the home, there was never a time during the entire evening when either made a sound at all.  Our investigators did not hear the noise at the time it was recorded.

EVP #2 is a growl caught after lead investigator John was speaking and asked for some sort of sign of a presence.  This was during a lone vigil in the living room late in the investigation.  Approximately 10 seconds after the statement was made, there is an growl which was captured on the recording, but not heard audibly at the time.

EVP #3 is an audible exhalation sound captured during John’s lone vigil in the living room.  During this portion of the investigation, the audio recorder was positioned on one side of the room and John was on the other.  Video recording was also conducted during this time which showed that at no time from the beginning of the EVP session until the end of it, did John cross the room towards the audio recorder.  For EVP #3, it was captured during a silent period of the session.  You can hear what sounds like someone exhaling right next to the microphone of the recorder.  There was no one else in the room except John who was across the room at the time.  Interestingly, the audio recorder was positioned in the room directly below what our psychic mediums pick up as being a ‘doorway’ or ‘window’ through which energies or entities may be using to enter the area.

EVP #4 is classified as the most ‘responsive’ evidence we gathered that evening.  Again, it was captured during the lone vigil of lead investigator John in the living room.  John had a small flashlight which he was placing on the floor and asking whatever entities may be present to manipulate.  It was a small penlight and John had unscrewed the light just enough so that when light pressure was applied to it, it lit up.  John placed it on the floor and was demonstrating how it worked to whatever possible entities may have been present, at one point saying, “…just like this, you see?”  After a few seconds, a voice was captured which appears to say “You see”.  If, in fact, that was an actual entity responding, it is unclear if the response was a question posed to John whether or not he could see, or if it was a simple mimicking of John’s question to it.

(Please see our evidence page for this investigation for .WAV files of all four EVPs captured)

 

  TECHNICAL EVIDENCE:

EMF readings throughout the building were relatively steady and unremarkable.  Several spikes were recorded and noted in different areas of the home.  One of the higher readings present in the home was in the computer room.  This was a natural occurring area of high EMF due to the larger television set and desktop computer.  The client had spoken of occasional feelings of being watched while at the computer.  This may be explained by the very high EMFs being emitted there, creating a virtual ‘fear-cage’ for anyone in that location.

Other technical evidence noted included unexplained temperature fluctuations, mostly noted in the master bedroom.  At one point earlier in the evening, investigators witnessed changes in temperature from 82 degrees down to 75.7 degrees.  The temperature then climbed back up to 84.3 degrees and slowly decreased:  82.2, 81.6, 80.7, 79.7, and 78.9.  This occurred in a time period of only 5 minutes.  The HVAC system of the home was not on during the night, and no doors or windows were open either.  This fluctuation remains unexplained.  At one point around this time, however, an orb was recorded on video which seemed to linger on top of the edge of the bed.  Whether or not these two incidents are related or truly paranormal are unproven to API’s standards.  They are, however, interesting experiences which remain unexplained.

 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES: 
 

While personal experiences were not abundant, there were a few during the evening which should be noted.  One investigator had the experience of sitting on the floor in one of the children’s rooms, and when she attempted to stand up, felt a pressure on her shoulder which seemed to be holding her down.  It was a momentary experience, but one she felt was worth mentioning.  At another point, in the spare bedroom, investigators smelled the faint odor of cigarette smoke, as reported by the client as one of her experiences.  Again, the experience was brief and faint, but nonetheless reported. 

The other personal experience was mentioned earlier and is the observation of the temperature fluctuation in the master bedroom.  As stated before, the change was notable in that over a period of only a few minutes, readings changed a total of 6.3 degrees with no explainable cause.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: 
 

Appleton Paranormal Investigations spent several hours in the home on the evening of August 21, 2009.  During this time, we had a few, minor, personal experiences and captured minimal scientific evidence. 

The personal experiences are just that, and must be removed from scientific consideration due to the fact that they have no corroborating evidence.

The visual evidence of the orb photo must also be removed from scientific consideration as it is pure speculation as to what the photo resembles, and there was no corroborating evidence gathered at the time of the photo (EVP, EMF, Temperature, etc) to give the anomaly any kind of scientific credence.

The technical evidence is, again, lacking.  The temperature fluctuation is the most interesting, but without significant scientific evidence to coincide with the readings, it remains only an interesting observation and cannot definitively be linked to paranormal activity.

This leaves us with the audio evidence.  This presents what API believes to be the most interesting evidence gathered during the investigation.  EVP #1, while labeled as evidence, is not necessarily specific enough to give any true weight to.  However, the circumstances of when and where EVPs #2, #3, & #4 were collected make them quite interesting.

Even though they were captured during a lone investigator’s vigil, the session was videotaped and does show that at no time was the investigator near the audio recorder during the session. 

EVP #2 is interesting, but again lacks any type of direct correlation to any questions asked or actions at the time as it is merely a ‘sound’.  The sound appeared to be some sort of growl, and while that perhaps can be linked to the information taken from our medium’s intuition of a canine spirit in the home, it is ultimately still speculation.

EVP #3 is a bit more interesting in that it clearly appears to sound like a human exhalation very near to the recorder.  The investigator was not anywhere near the device when the EVP was captured, leaving its origin unexplained.  One can speculate that, given the proximity of the recording device to what the medium previously described as what she felt was a window or doorway where energy or entities could enter and leave from, and is also in the same area where the interesting orb photograph was taken, that this is positive evidence.  However, that would still only be speculation at this point.

EVP #4 presents what could be our most interesting piece of evidence in that it appears to either mimic or directly respond to an investigator’s question or statement.  While placing a penlight on the floor and demonstrating to whatever entities there may have been present how they could manipulate the light and show their presence, the investigator uttered the phrase, “you see?”  The EVP captured appears to repeat the phrase back, either as a mimicking, or even asking its own question back to the investigator.

As interesting as this EVP is, we are again faced with the fact that there is no corroborating evidence such as EMF or temperature change to go along with it.

 

Conclusion:

Appleton Paranormal Investigations finds the client to be a credible individual who we believe is experiencing some strange phenomena in her home.  Our efforts to capture such phenomena during our investigation, however, were not conclusive, although they did not disprove her claims.

While some portions of the investigation were able to provide alternative explanations to some concerns – such as the high EMF readings in the computer room which could be the cause of the strange feelings there – ultimately, we are unable to give a definitive scientific conclusion on whether or not the home is, indeed, haunted.  There simply was not enough hard evidence gathered during our vigil.

However, regardless of our ability to capture scientific proof, at the writing of this analysis 30+ days after the investigation, the client still continues to experience unexplained phenomena in the home.

API continues to work with the client, providing consultation, resources and references, in the hopes that we may be able to assist her in finding an acceptable resolution to her continuing experiences.