Private Residence in South Paris, Maine Investigation Report

Location: South Paris, Maine

Date: Friday, November 29, 2002

Moon Phase: New

Solar Weather: unknown

Investigators Present: Hillary M., Paul M., guest investigator Candi B.

Equipment: Olympus C-3000 digital camera, RCA digital voice recorder, Sony digital video camera with Nightshot, Pentax PC-550 35mm camera, Extech EMF meter, Olympus 2000 Digital Voice Recorder

History: The house was rolled to the current location, from an unknown previous location, in 1796. The house was then made into the South Paris Post Office from 1801 to 1809, and after that, a general store. The house then became a private residence. At one point, one family owned it for 150 years.
The current owner received a letter from a former owner, who was a member of that family. In the letter, he explained that the house was haunted, and that he had even seen the ghosts a couple of times. He also gave a hint as to who might be doing the haunting. He explained that both his father and grandfather died in the house. The family had actually built a house next door for the grandfather and grandmother, but the grandfather told them that he would never move out of this house. He stated that he grew up there, and it was his home, and he would die there before he'd ever move into the other house. It was two of three months before the house was finished next door, that he did finally die in the house.
The current owner has seen an apparition that he believes may be the grandfather mentioned in the letter. He heard someone walking around in the kitchen, and thought that maybe a friend had stopped by. He walked out to the kitchen, and saw a man of 60-65 standing by the sink with one hand on the counter, and one hand on his hip. The man was not completely solid, and when the owner blinked, the man disappeared!
PRSNA investigator Paul Murdoch also saw an apparition in this house last year, during a preliminary investigation. When we first entered the house, the owner was standing in the kitchen with a friend, which he introduced to us. Paul actually saw three men standing there, the third about 45 years of age and wearing work cover-alls. Paul wondered why the owner didn't introduce the third man, and when he turned around, he was gone! The apparition was completely solid, and Paul absolutely believed he was a friend of the owner's, until Paul asked him where his other friend went. The owner, or course, had no idea what Paul was talking about!
The current owner purchased the house two and a half years ago. He has been renovating the house to its original appearance ever since.
Besides apparitions, the owner has experienced strange feelings of someone standing very close to him, feeling someone staring at him from the second-floor window while he is outside, objects being moved around the house, cold spots, and the sound of a ball bouncing and rolling around upstairs. The owner's son has also heard the ball bouncing upstairs while lying in bed at night.

Investigation: We arrived at the house at around 8:00 p.m. Since we had been to this house before, and did not require a tour, we began to take control pictures and EMF readings. We found unexplainable EMF readings all over the house.
The first strange reading was obtained in the front entryway on the main floor. I obtained readings of 4.0-7.0 in this area, but was unable to find any power source (such as electric lines in the walls) to account for them. Actually, the closer I got to the walls, the lower the reading was. The reading then dropped to 2.0, and I walked into the living room. Just on the other side of the doorway, I again began getting fluctuating readings from 4.2-7.0, but again could not find an explanation, so I asked Paul to take a picture. The pictures he took showed an orb hovering in the corner while I was getting the high reading. The orb appeared in two consecutive pictures, but was gone in the third.
The second strange EMF reading was obtained at the window by the steps on the second floor. After going outside to walk around the house, we observed that the power lines entered the house near this window, explaining the high reading.
At 8:30 p.m., I sat down with the owner and his son to interview them, while Candi and Paul continued to take pictures and EMF readings. After I completed the interview with the owner's son, he went upstairs to join Paul and Candi while I interviewed his father. While upstairs, Candi and the son felt a cold spot in a storage space. Since they were unable to find a source for the cold (the whole are is very well insulated), they took an EMF reading of the area, and watched the meter fluctuate between 4.2 and 6.0. Paul then took a picture and obtained a very bright, moving orb!
A few minutes later, they all came downstairs, and Paul began to take a series of pictures of the owner and I during the interview. He obtained two pictures of an orb on the couch beside me!
At 9:05, we went upstairs and spread out among the four rooms to try an EVP session. Almost nine minutes into the session, Paul, who was standing at the top of the stairs, stated that he got a sudden chill. I took a picture and found an orb directly over his head! During the EVP session, I asked whoever was with us to please make a noise for us. I then got a strange "squeak" which sounds like a camera, but the only two cameras that were used that night did not make a similar noise.
At 9:33 p.m., we moved downstairs. Paul went into the living room, Candi and the owners' son went into the bedroom, and I stood in the front entranceway between the two rooms. Thirty-eight seconds into this session, we recorded a women's voice in the distance. We did not hear the voice while conducting the session. A few minutes later, Paul and I distinctly heard a noise coming from the room that Candi and the owner's son were in. Neither of them heard the noise, however, even though it sounded to me like it came from right in front of where they were sitting. The noise also did not show up on the recording. The owner and his son left the house during the recording session, leaving Candi, Paul and I in the house alone. Right before we ended the session, I walked through the bedroom towards the kitchen. When I reached the kitchen doorway, I had the overwhelming feeling that there was someone standing in front of me, but there was no one there. The feeling was so strong, that I simply stood in the doorway for a few minutes, trying to shake the feeling that I would bump into someone if I took another step.
The three of us moved into the kitchen at 9:47, but obtained no results. We then decided to try the upstairs again. Paul had a strange feeling, and didn't want to go upstairs again, so Candi and I went up alone at 9:56. We stayed upstairs in the dark for about fifteen minutes, but got very few results.

Conclusion: Based on the orb pictures that we obtained while recording high EMF readings, and the fact that a member of our team witnessed an apparition at this site previously, we can't help but believe that this house is haunted. These ghosts definitely seem to prefer males though, especially the owner and his son. When Candi and I were alone upstairs, we got very few results. When Paul and the owner's son were with us, we obtained several positive pictures and two possible EVPs. Most of the orbs seemed to be near Paul. We would like to obtain pictures of the previous owners of the home (the father and grandfather mentioned in the history section above) to see if Paul and the owner can identify them as the men they saw in the home.

We wish to thank the owner of this private residence for his hospitality, and for allowing us to investigate this site.

Submitted by Hillary Murdoch