Private Residence, Pekin, Illinois, 2014
Investigators: Dave and intern investigators: Shelly, Suzanne, Zoe and Emma
Shelly asked us if we would be interested in investigating a house recently vacated by her sister and husband. Records on the property and huge home date back to 1872 but could well have been built much earlier. Prior claims include Shelly’s brother-in-law having seen a female in white walk down the basement hallway, the owner’s daughter seeing a child spirit in her second floor room, and the female occupant feeling as if there was a male in the basement, noting a general uneasiness and a feeling of being watched.
The owners gave a tour of the home, and showed me the records they had on the property including detailed notes on previous owners and the records for the 1872 purchase of the home. We began with emf sweeps on all floors to get a base reading and took photos. No spikes were noted at this time on the mel meter or K2. Suzanne noted a feeling of lightheartedness, illness, and difficulty breathing in the second floor master bedroom.
While the others went to grab dinner at Avanti’s, Suzanne and I decided to do a couple of audio recordings upstairs, starting of course in the master bedroom and the child’s bedroom. Because of the children’s voices wafting into the house, we were concerned about some of the potential EVPs, however we may have captured a male voice at the time. Suzanne’s original feelings in the master bedroom were no longer present as during the walk through, although we may have captured an EVP in that room as well.
After eating the famous Avanti’s, (which if I may step out of investigator mode and become a food critic, I felt was highly overrated) I took our novice investigators to the basement where we set up a laser light, took photos, videos, and practiced using the K2 and other EMF detectors,. We were intrigued by apparent movements of the green laser lights, not quite sure what was accounting for the strange motions. We also got several spikes on the Mel-meter, a usually reliable instrument. At different times it spiked from a background of 0 to as high as double digits, particularly in the back walk-in closet area of the basement. I myself went back into this space and thought I heard a voice; at the same time had the meter go to a reading of over 6.0.
Although no results were attained from the video camera, the audio recorder I left in the basement while we were on the second floor yielded some interesting results; including what sounds like footsteps, voices, and things being moved around. At the time we were all two floors away.
We then went into the first floor kitchen, dining room area and did a spirit box session. Nothing obvious stuck out at the time, although I have included a couple of clips below. This is not to say; we did not have a couple of strange events at this time. We all thought we heard a male growly voice. I asked if everyone’s stomach had growled and they all thought it was me or someone else. The recorder did not pick up much, other than our astounded responses.
Shortly after that Shelly reported having felt something go up the back of her shirt and rub her back, followed immediately by Suzanne saying she had a slight tickling sensation on her left side. She tried to convince herself at the time that it was probably just her frayed nerves! The girls then went to the second floor master bedroom area while I headed to the attic for an EVP session. It remained quiet except for the voices of the girls, which made its way upstairs.
After a while I went to join the girls for more audio recordings as well as running some video. At that time Suzanne thought she saw a small dark figure scamper along the wall below the window and leave the room. Suzanne complained of feeling very cold soon after her sighting, and Shelly who was sitting with her on the couch confirmed she felt very cold to the touch. The mel meter also detected a drop of a few degrees and then inexplicably the same spot that was cold to the touch suddenly felt very warm
It was an interesting evening for our first time investigators who are now definitely ready for more action. Whoever still resides in this historic mansion seems quite content and benign. They are undoubtedly pleased with the love and work the owners put into house to keep it in its current state.
Photos
EVPs
Late in the evening I set a recorder in the back room of the basement. We were two floors away with no one walking around. Besides noises there could be possible voices around 9 and 44 sec.
Voice responding to a question at 4 sec, little boys name may be Dirk!
Male at around.half sec. I was the only male in building and I'm talking at the time.
Catherine in Master Bedroom- an extra voice can be heard in 2nd floor room around 4 sec
A male voice at about 2 sec, "Make it go away, please" and an unidentified female, perhaps an accent states" find my sister" at 6 secs, Clients insist it was none of them.
Spirit box recording: at around 2 sec, "Wilbur" with accent and later another unidentified female voice.