Capital Area Paranormal Society

The Roost is a charming shop located on sixth street in the heart of Springfield’s historic downtown district. Although they only recently opened their business, the building itself has been around since the late 18oo’s. As was the style of that time, the businesses were run out of the main floor, while the second and third floors were designed as residential.

It didn’t take long before the shopkeepers realized that there seem to be “others” sharing their space. Many times they have heard phantom footsteps and loud noises, had lights turn on by themselves and found items neatly stacked. At one point they even had one of the plush toys inexplicably fly off a shelf. Rachel related one incident involving some motion activated Halloween decorations which (or witch) were placed in different areas of the shop. One night she was there with a friend and had asked the spirits to make their presence known. One after another those animatronics started turning on. Needless to say, they flew the coop!

In February, Dave and Trish, along with Garret Moffett (prominent Springfield Walks proprietor), did a preliminary walk-through. They were given access to the first floor and basement. Garret noted that he had come over a little dizzy in the basement area. Dave and Trish garnered a couple EVP’s that day.

On March 5th, I went in with Dave and Trish for a full investigation. We met with the owner Rachel and her husband JP. We set up our video cameras around the shop and one in the basement. While in the back area of the shop, I smelled a strong pleasant scent. It smelled something akin to Lavender, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. As I stood there trying to figure it out, it abruptly vanished. I found out later that evening that people have reportedly smelled men’s cologne, described similar to “Old Spice”, in that area.

Before we officially began our investigation, I went back to the basement and found that the new batteries in the video camera were drained. Apparently it only ran a scant 3 minutes before shutting down. After replacing the batteries, I went back upstairs to let everyone know what had happened. Rachel told me that she has repeatedly had issues with things that run on batteries and has given up, going in favor of “plug-ins”.

Once everything was set up, we began on the main floor with K2 meters and our new version of Boo Buddy Bear. This Buddy is a more advanced piece of equipment than the last. He has a greater vocabulary, a mel-meter to detect temperature changes, as well as his built-in EMF detector. This was our first time with the new bear so we were very eager to see it in action. It didn’t take long before our fuzzy little investigator started earning his keep! Rachel and Trish were nearby conversing about how they were feeling surrounded by coldness. As they were discussing it, Boo Buddy asked if they (the spirits) could make it warmer. It would seem he concurred with the ladies!

Trish and I decided to check on my video camera located in the basement, or… should I say check on the batteries! It seemed to be working well, so we decided to linger a bit. We were taken aback by how pitch black it seemed, like a dungeon! Trish and I kept hearing sounds we thought were emanating from across the room and then we were beset by cold chills. Suddenly we heard a loud noise behind us. Trish was overcome by a feeling that something was about to tap her on the shoulder at any moment. Eerily we heard what sounded like a child’s voice at the same time I thought I saw shadows flitting around across the room. I was feeling confused because I was thinking it was so dark, but then had somehow gotten brighter. I turned and noticed that Trish’s flashlight, which she had placed in her pocket, was now on. We don’t know how that happened because Trish had been standing there with arms folded in front of her. I decided to snap off a few photos and as I was doing so, Trish thought she saw something stand straight up in the pathway towards the staircase.

As eventful as the basement was, we decided to rejoin Dave, Rachel and JP in the main shop area. Apparently Dave had also heard the voice while we were in the basement, along with some sort of clanking noise. Dave had just turned off the Ovilus and started the spirit box. He grabbed Boo Buddy to place him in the basement in front of my video camera, but as he was walking away with it the spirit box said “Boo Bear”.

The EMF detectors in the bears’ paw started lighting up, which was the first time that had happened all night. There seem to be so much interaction during our questioning as to where the location of the bear should be, we were convinced that Boo Buddy Bear needed to stay where he was. We continued using the spirit box. While it was running, Dave, Trish and I heard a very loud creaking sound, shortly after; Trish thought someone whispered in her ear.

As we were nearing the end of the investigation, JP turned on the lights for us and a few minutes later we heard another loud noise. It came from the flood light which was plugged into an electrical socket that Dave was using for one of his video cameras. While reviewing the video, we saw the light was vigorously flashing and then died; a first for this piece of equipment!

As Dave and Trish were packing up the equipment, they heard a child moaning loudly when they reached the basement. Fortunately that was captured on the equipment before being turned off.

This investigation was truly a remarkable experience for us. It was an historic building in an amazing location; its little wonder there would be spirits wanting to roost.