Ohio Inn Investigation

Location: Inn in Central Ohio - I cannot reveal location due to owners' wishes.

Date: September 21-23, 2002

Time: This investigation took place over a weekend. Most investigating was done at night, beginning at about 8pm and ending around 4am.

History: The Inn was built in 1812, and is the oldest continuously running Inn and tavern in the state of Ohio. The current owners extensively renovated it in the 1970s. Former owners include Matthias Brice (changed name), for whom the Inn was named, and Rose Brunnell. Both former owners are believed to still inhabit the Inn.
The first floor of the main building consists of a lobby, gift shop, main hallway, and three large dining rooms. The second floor consists on three guest rooms, offices, a dining room, and a private conference/dining room. The basement consists of a tavern, a storage area, and a wine cellar, which is also used as a dining room. The three areas of the basement are separated.

Equipment: RCA digital voice recorder, Olympus C-3000 digital camera, Night Owl night vision scope, Sony Hi8 digital video camera with Nightshot, Pentax PC-550 35mm camera, Extech EMF meter, infrared digital thermometer

Investigators present: Hillary M., and Shonda A.

Investigation: I arrived at the Inn at about 3:30pm on Friday the 21st. Shonda had not yet arrived, so I checked in to room #8. I also took a walk around the main building, as well as the gardens between the buildings. When Shonda arrived, we went downstairs and had dinner in the dining room. We then conducted employee interviews, including one of the tenured assistant managers, and the tavern bartender. Next, we walked around the property, taking pictures to map out the area. We then decided to begin our investigating.

10:29pm - Room #9. We set up my Nightshot video camera in the front room, and closed the door in between the rooms. We then attempted to get an EVP in the next room, addressing Rose. We immediately took a picture, and immediately got orbs on the closed door to the adjoining room. Three of the "orbs" were found to be flaws on the wood. There was one orb, however, that we could not explain. At 10:32pm, we took another picture of the door, and the mysterious orb was gone. At 10:35:40pm, the orb was back in front of the door. After asking, "can you please make a noise to let us know that you're here?" we heard a thump in the next room. I then asked if it was Matthias Brice who was in the room with us, and if it was could he please pose beside Shonda. Thirty seconds later, I took a picture of Shonda, and there was a very bright orb right on her knee. I took another picture five seconds later, and the orb was gone. About a minute later, at 10:29:45pm, I got a bright orb in front of the dresser, which was gone in the next picture. At this point, we decided to move on. I opened the door between the bedrooms and repositioned the video camera to shoot through the open doorway.

We spent the next several hours interviewing the woman who works the night shift at the front desk. She has spent countless nights alone in the Inn, and had several experiences to tell us about. She was kind enough to take us on a detailed tour of the Inn, sharing her stories in each room.

2:19am - We went back to room #9 and attempted to get an EVP. We heard an unexplained knock on the wall at 2:22am. We also heard what sounded like the chandelier clinking in the adjoining room at 2:25am. We immediately took a picture and captured an orb in the doorway to that room. At 2:27am we heard a strange noise in the adjoining bathroom, which was later determined to be a dripping faucet.

3:05am - We sat at opposite ends of the tavern (in the basement), and attempted to get an EVP. We heard no strange sounds while down there, except the very noisy ice machine. We also did not get any feelings that there might be some one with us. I then set up my Nightshot video camera on the bar, and left it run for an hour. Nothing anomalous was found on the tape. We left the tavern at 3:17am somewhat disappointed that nothing happened. We did not obtain any EVPs during this session. Later, after looking at the pictures, we found that there was an orb right in front of Shonda while we were attempting to get the EVP.

Night of Saturday, September 22nd:

After napping and running some errands, we arrived back at the Inn at about 7pm. We then sat in one of the first floor dining rooms and interviewed the manager of the Inn. At about 8pm we met some other independent investigators for dinner in the tavern. That's where we met some frequent guests whom have had a number of experiences there. So, we interviewed them as well.

1:10am - Room #8. We attempted to get an EVP. I sat in a chair in front of the window. Shonda sat by the doorway to the bathroom. Two other independent investigators sat on the other side of the room. We addressed both Rose and Matthias Brice. At 1:15am, we asked if whoever was with us could make their presence known, but got no response. After a full minute, I said, "We know that you like attention, and that you make your presence known quite often". As if in response to the statement, we heard a knock on the window behind me (which is a second story window and cannot be accessed from outside without a ladder). Then I asked "Did you just give us a sign by knocking on the window?" and we heard another knock. We took a number of pictures, from different angles, of the window, but got no orbs. At 1:18:30am after asking a series of other questions, we asked whoever was there to please pose in the bathroom doorway. This is the only picture we took in that room that had an orb in it. At 1:20am, when we then asked "Can you tell us you name please?" and got another rap on the window. Now I have never claimed to be psychic, or at all sensitive, but sometimes I do get strange feelings. At that moment I got a very strong feeling that there was some one standing right beside me, and that it was an older male. We then turned on the lights, and checked to see that no furniture was touching the window, which by being bumped, could cause the sound. We were able to duplicate the specific sound by pressing on the one windowpane. We then went outside to determine in there was any wind that could of cause the sound. We felt none, but to be sure, we decided to spend some time investigating outside. We set up my Nightshot video camera on the dresser, aimed at the window, and left the room. Upon later inspection of the video, we heard a loud sound right next to the camera about two minutes after we left the premises. Then for the next eight minutes, an orb passes back and forth a number of times in front of the camera. Then there is another loud noise which sounds like it is coming from behind the camera, and there is no more movement on the rest of the video.

After we left room #8, we decided to check out the local Cemetery, which had recently been restored and looked very inviting. The gate was closed, so we stood outside of it, on the sidewalk, and took several pictures. We also attempted to get an EVP, but got nothing. We did get a couple pictures with bright orbs in them, and one with some ecto.

We returned to the Inn at about 3am, quite exhausted. Since we didn't get much sleep yet, we decided to call it an early night at about 3:30.

Conclusion: Based on our pictures, videos, and recordings, I would definitely say that paranormal occurrences are abundant at the Inn. I also believe, based on my feelings, and stories told by employees, that many entities spend time here. We are scheduling a follow investigation in early December, and frankly, I can't wait to go back. The whole place has a very positive atmosphere, and I get the impression that whichever ghostly entities do inhabit the Inn do so because they just find the place so darn pleasant.