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BY F. M. LONGO

(Author’s Note: I omitted names to prevent embarrassment, and deleted all expletives)

One of the reasons I look forward to Halloween every year is my civic group’s annual haunted house. It’s one of our major fundraisers, and we have a four-week period to transform a three thousand square-foot barn into a maze of psychological torture. Many of our members work well into the wee hours of the morning to construct and paint the venue, and occasionally, someone would find himself working alone.

At the end of last year’s event, several of us were sitting around, talking, and the discussion turned to some of the odd things that have happened during setup over the years, like strange noises and moaning from empty spaces, and wind blowing through the area when all doors are closed. We always assumed it was just our imagination, or the building settling, or one of any other rational solutions. It wasn’t until this year, with several unexplained incidents, that we decided to find out if we were really dealing with paranormal activity.

Because having our “haunted house” in a real haunted house would be a draw for visitors, it fell to me, the club’s publicist, to arrange to get to the truth of the matter. Being a skeptic didn’t matter; one way or another, it was good press. I figured that finding someone to look into our manifestations couldn’t be as simple as doing a search on the Internet for “paranormal investigators,” so I dashed off a couple of emails to people of my acquaintance who know about things like this. None of them could recommend any one group in particular, but the general advice was “just Google it.” I was amazed when the search engine turned up hundreds of groups, with at least a dozen within a half-hour distance. I chose the closest one and sent them an email.

A reply came within minutes, asking for some details. Besides the sounds and wind, I listed some of the more memorable events: heavy chains that raise the barn doors would start swinging; a fifty-five gallon drum started rocking on its own; a strange mist that traveled around the room; and, a light that turned on and off by itself. They indicated they were interested in pursuing the matter.

Once I got a commitment from the group to perform a full investigation, I added a few lines to the press release promoting our haunted house stating that we were launching an inquiry into possible paranormal events at the barn. I received several responses from editors asking if I was serious. I assured them I was. One paper assigned a reporter to cover the investigation. She told me that she was not happy about the possibility of never sleeping again.

On the night of the inquiry, the club members who were working to create the venue decided they wanted to be part of the investigation. Besides me, the group included a lawyer, an insurance agent, a pharmaceutical sales representative, and a travel agent. All of us were skeptical about the possibility of ghosts in the barn, but we were searching for answers and were willing to keep an open mind.

When the paranormal team arrived, they immediately started setting up their equipment. You never see this part on television because producers edit it out of every ghosthunter show, mostly because it’s boring. First, they set up the five-gallon coffee urn and set out platters of food. Next, was the equipment: Infrared cameras, digital voice recorders, electromagnetic interference (EMI) meters, and other pieces of expensive tech whose purpose I could not fathom, all requiring fresh batteries.

It was about an hour until everything was ready. By this time, the reporter had already arrived and was sitting in a corner, typing on her laptop. The rest of us were busy working on various parts of our display: painting, wiring lights, and hanging body parts from the ceiling.

Just when I thought we’d start the hard work of ghostbusting, the leader of the paranormal group announced it was time for pictures. The investigators needed some for their Facebook page. The reporter needed some for her article. I decided I needed some for my publicity campaign, since everyone was posing anyway. It was about a half hour before the flashes stopped and displays checked to see if any ghosts had photobombed the pictures.

It was now time for ‘lights out’. One of the investigators explained to me that working at night was the preferred time to hunt for ghosts. “It’s quieter,” was the reason given. To see for yourself, some afternoon, play your favorite CD on your stereo at a normal volume. Now, without changing any settings, go back and play it at midnight when all the street noises are gone. It will now seem much louder because the ambient noise level is lower. “Things that get would normally be lost in the background now are audible,” the sound technician said.

Split into two teams, one group went into a back area where there was once an apartment, and the second group, of which I was a member, stayed in the main space and set up shop in the maze. The reporter stayed in her corner, next to one of the infrared cameras.

When the lights went out, the only illumination was the red LEDs on the voice recorders, and a green LED on the EMI meter. One of the investigators explained to me that, in the presence of spirit phenomenon, additional LEDs in different colors would light, depending on the amount of energy in the area. Then, they explained the protocol that we would use. I was to remain absolutely still and silent, and if I accidently made a noise—shuffled my feet, or coughed—I was to say my name and “that was me.” If I heard something unusual, I was to say “tag,” which was an indication for the sound analyst to pay close attention to that part of the recording.

For the first ten minutes, the only sound in the room was the lead investigator inviting any spirits to come by and make the EMI detector show off the pretty colors. I had my eyes glued to that one green LED, hoping the other seven would light up, and ready to run if they did. However, the only response was the growling of several stomachs, with the appropriate “that was me,” following.

After a few more minutes, someone in the group asked, “Did you hear that?” We all strained to listen. It was a short time before someone identified the sound: the coffee maker. We resumed the serious business of attracting a spirit, when a shriek from the corner of the room interrupted us. At the same time, the recorders and the EMI meter all went dark. We called to the reporter to switch on the lights, and we made our way out of the maze. She was huddled back in her corner, silently sobbing. Apparently, she was helping herself to some of the food when the light on the camera next to her went out; she thought she tripped a motion detector switch, catching her in the act of snacking.

A quick check of the camera showed that, in less than an hour, the fresh battery that should have lasted about four hours was dead. So were the batteries in the recorders and EMI meter. According to the investigators, this indicated a spiritual presence. I wasn’t so sure, but it was easier to believe than all four device’s batteries ran out at exactly the same time.

After replacing batteries and hitting the doughnut buffet, we went back to the maze, this time with the reporter in tow, for a second session. The team leader invited any spirits around to make their presence known. Instead of silence, we heard a resounding ‘thump’ from a corner of the room where we knew no one was standing. This set off the reporter, who slid to the floor and started to whimper. The rest of us craned our ears to see if there were any more communications from the other side. What happened next defied explanation.

As we stood and discussed the noise, a piece of wood used as a brace for one of the lighting fixtures fell to the floor. Coincidence? Maybe not, because a second brace fell seconds later. Firmly screwed into place, neither bore enough weight to force them off the wall. In addition, the screws were still in place, and the holes to which they belonged still had their threads when we inspected the pieces that fell. “Obviously,” said the lead investigator. “This is the work of the spirit!” This was too much for the reporter who claimed she had enough for her story, and left. It was a shame, because the main event was still to come.

My team traded places with the other group, and we were now in the apartment area, which is now office space. The first thing the group’s psychic said when she entered the area was, “I feel a presence here. Someone who might have suffered alone?” I held my tongue when she looked at me for verification. One of the facts I withheld from the investigators was that the prior occupant of this space died while he was living there. He had a massive heart attack and it wasn’t until a few days later that someone checked up on him and found his body.

While it was easy for the psychic to Google me, find out that I am a writer, and is somehow involved with food (which was the first thing she said to me when we met), there is no online information about the poor man who passed on in the barn. However, it doesn’t mean that the data isn’t available; just about every local school kid knows the story.

I ignored the prompt and took my place for this effort to draw out the ghost. My location was against a wall, where I had a full view of all doors to the area, and both the investigators who were filming the session with infrared cameras. I was also able to observe a small office that was directly across from me, one with only one door. Turning off the lights in the room, we listened carefully as the lead investigator, once again, requested any spirits in attendance make their presence known to us. The room was still as we awaited any sign from the afterworld. It didn’t take long.

After one more request for some sort of signal, the camera operators to the right of me shouted, “Something moved in front of my camera.” As everyone turned to him, the other cameraman, to my left, cried, “It just went past mine!” In order for the same object to register on both cameras, it would have had to go by me, but I saw and felt nothing. There were three explanations: The ghost was both incorporeal and fast; there were two spirits inhabiting the space; or, they were both making this up to impress me. Secretly, I hoped it was the last reason, because the first two frightened me immensely.

Before we could resume, one of the cameras went dark. As we were trying to figure out why, a noise came from directly in front of me. It sounded like a nail or screw dropped onto the floor. As we started to investigate, another noise, much louder and heavier, came from the other empty room. Our attention shifted to that, and found a metal tool on the floor in the middle of the room, one that wasn’t there during our initial walk-through. We decided we should take a break, and went back into the maze room.

The camera operators started to inspect their equipment. The camera that went dark had a fully charged battery that should have lasted a couple of hours. In fact, according to the cameraman, the power status indicator showed about eighty percent of the charge left just before it died. While he puzzled this out, the rest of us watched the video from the other camera, allegedly showing an apparition scoot across the bottom of the frame. I couldn’t see it, but, then again, I’m not a trained paranormal investigator. As we discussed the footage, a loud “thunk” from the back of the barn drew our attention away from the recording.

We ran to see what caused the noise, and found a long 4×4 timber, that had been sitting on the floor, about eight feet from its initial position. It looked like something picked it up and threw it like a paranormal version of a Highland caber toss. We could account for the whereabouts of everyone on the investigation, and no one was near that area, so how the board moved was one more mystery to add to the list.

By now, it was midnight, and I had spent the last twenty hours awake, six of them looking for ghosts. Some of the investigators wanted to stay until ‘dead time’, or three AM, the traditional hour when spirits are at their most active. I pointed out that it’s October, so wouldn’t it be two o’clock, since I didn’t think ghosts followed Daylight Saving Time. This statement drew blank stares from the investigators. Either way, I wasn’t going to stay much longer, and the majority of the assembled group decided the same.

Packing up equipment was faster than setting it up, and we were out of the barn within thirty minutes. The investigators told us it would be a couple of weeks before we received any of the EVP results, and they were optimistic that they collected some good evidence. We said good night, hesitantly turned off the lights, and locked up. Two weeks later, we were notified that there were preliminary results from the investigation. Nothing could have prepared us for what we would see and hear.

We all met back at the barn, and the investigators set up a laptop. They prepared a video presentation for us, and after connecting the audio to the sound system we use for our haunt, we jockeyed around for a good view, kept quiet, and pressed play. The first part was the result of the EVP analysis. We strained to make out what the spirits were saying, half expecting to hear, “Get out now!”

As we learned, it’s unusual to capture EVPs from any given investigation. Most investigations do not reveal any at all. Our case was very unusual as the spirit voices seemed to be answering the questions the researchers asked. The most amazing EVP was the spirit’s answer when one of the people filming said he forgot a second disc for his camera. The response from the spirit was, “What an a#####e”. To be fair, he only said what the rest of us were thinking.

If this wasn’t chilling enough, at one point, a video taken by the other group showed a figure moving in front of the camera at a high rate of speed. This occurred in one of the hallways in the maze, one that is only four feet wide, and no one saw it when it happened. It was only during the video review that they detected it. According to the investigators, this is among the rarest of paranormal events.

It will take a few more weeks for the researchers to conclude their analysis. They have been very careful to state that while there is strong evidence of paranormal phenomena, there is no firm conclusion that the barn is haunted…yet. However, those of us who participated that evening have no doubt that there is something otherworldly happening at the barn.

Here’s the video released by the paranormal investigators.

Retired from the finance industry, F. M. Longo now works in advertising for non-profit organizations. A master chef, when he isn’t cooking, he writes detective mysteries. His short story, “Morningside”, appears in A Dash of Madness: a Thriller Anthology released July, 2013.