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Friday, September 9, 2022


Date: September 4, 2022
Location: Villisca Ax Murder House, Villisca, Iowa


After several delays due to the pandemic and busy schedules, we were finally able to head north to Iowa to investigate the small-town farmhouse made notorious by a grisly, unsolved murder in 1912. The tragic and brutal murder of six young children and two adults has brought countless ghost hunters and thrill seekers to the quiet town of Villisca, nestled in southern Iowa farm country. 

We arrived in the late afternoon, just as the day’s final tour was wrapping up, to collect the keys and learn more about the house. Although I didn’t know it at the time, our most intriguing finding occurred in those first few moments of wandering around photographing the outside of the house. Upon zooming in to look more closely at the house, I noticed a small (but fairly obvious) face peeping out of the upper half of one of the kitchen windows. As you can see in the images below, the face appears to be that of a young child, but it is hard to discern enough detail to tell whether the child is a boy or girl.

Full-size image - window with face circled in red


Zoomed-in image showing what appears to be a child's face peeking out the window.

Upon entering the house to start setting up for the night, Don was very quickly hit with a heavy feeling in the upstairs of the home. This isn’t surprising given that the entire Moore family was murdered in their sleep in this part of the house. 

Despite the immediate impressions, the house was relatively quiet while we were inside. We captured one possible EVP of a quiet voice responding “uh-huh” to a question, but it wasn’t distinguishable enough to publish. Our infrared cameras recorded multiple orbs of varying brightness and size, particularly in the upstairs rooms, but we caught none in our still photos. 

Our personal experiences were the most noteworthy occurrences besides the initial photo. Early in the evening, my dad and I were sitting in the children’s room upstairs. I was sitting on the very edge of one of the beds (pictured) while my dad sat on the floor asking questions. We both heard the bed frame rattle, and the bed shook briefly as though someone had sat down or jumped onto the head of it. Oddly, when I played the audio track back, I did not hear the rattling on the digital voice recorder we were using.

My mom and I were in the same room an hour or so later, and she was reading a children’s story aloud to anyone who cared to listen.  The voice recorder that we had been recording with for several minutes completely shut off midway through the story, and strangely, the file that had been recording was no longer on the device when we turned it back on... Perhaps the children were politely letting us know they didn’t want to be heard that night.
We left the house with a definite feeling that the spirits of those who so tragically died there are still lingering. We are pleased with the unique photo we captured, and we all had some interesting personal experiences, but, like many other popular haunted locales, it seems that the spirits at this one may be growing wary of all their still-living visitors poking around day and night for evidence of a haunting.  

Hayley.








 

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Villisca Murder House Investigation This Weekend

After several delays, the SPI team will finally be heading to Iowa this weekend to investigate the famous Villisca Ax Murder House. The house has a fascinating history and is famous for the eight brutal murders that occurred there in 1912, which remain unsolved to this day. The house is said to be one of the most haunted in the country, and we are excited to check it out for ourselves after months of waiting! Check back soon to see what we find!

Here's a great recent article about the 1912 murders: https://www.desmoinesregister.com


Source: The Des Moines Register





Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Upcoming Investigation

This spring the SPI team will be heading north to Iowa to investigate the famous Villisca Ax Murder House. The house was the site of eight brutal murders in 1912, with six of the victims being the Moore family and the other two being young friends of the Moore children. Although someone confessed to crime, the confession was later recanted and the crime remains unsolved. Today the house is said to be one of the most haunted in the country, and after seeing and hearing about it on TV and in podcasts, we are extremely excited to check it out for ourselves. Check back in April to see what we find!


Source: The Des Moines Register

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the SPI family!

Saturday, September 4, 2021

Local Church Investigation Reveals 31 Word EVP

Date: August 14, 2021

Location: Local Church 

 

On the morning of August 2nd while picking up his tools to leave a remodeling job in the sanctuary of a local church, Don glanced up and out of the sanctuary into the reception area of the church and saw something entirely unexpected – A gray shadowy figure walking, swinging arms and moving legs included, across the reception area towards the stairs that lead up to the office. 

 

This sighting lead Don to ask church leadership for permission to investigate, which was happily granted since many members of the church staff have heard unexplainable things there themselves. And so, on August 14thwe (Don, Beverly, and I) packed some small pieces of equipment and ventured to the church on a Saturday evening to see what we could find. 

 

Shortly after arriving we began experiencing things. EMF levels throughout the church were low, with the EMF and KII meters never showing any spikes. We set up in the reception area and began asking questions with the REM pod. On multiple occasions almost immediately after we captured asking questions or asking something to approach the REM pod would light up and beep for several seconds in response. 

 

The EVPs were the highlight of the night. The first was captured upstairs in the office. Don was alone in the office asking questions, and after several minutes of sitting in the office/library he decided to change locations. After saying aloud that he was going to walk away, he gets up, sighs, and then a male voice whispers “Tell ‘em I’m doing just fine.” Moments later on the opposite side of the office there was a brief word captured that sounds like “Hynum”, but was challenging to make out.

 

Soon after this, after checking out the basement and moving into the sanctuary, Don’s audio recorder picked up the longest EVP we have ever captured. Don was alone in the sanctuary while Beverly and I were upstairs in the office. After stating that he was going to walk up the main aisle to the front of the room to see if anyone is near the front door, the following statements were all recorded in the same session, uninterrupted, for a total of 31 discernable words: 

 

“I got this. Call me in the morning. I think we’re in vain. But once you hear it… When you can hear, anybody, tell them, tell them I’m doing just fine.”

 

After listening to this EVP a multitude of times, this is our best interpretation of what is said. The majority of the statements are very clear, but small portions were challenging to make out, especially since the statements don’t seem to be a coherent train of thought. 

 

Back out in the reception area, Don’s recorder captured one last (mostly) intelligible EVP for the evening. He requested whoever was with us in the church to confirm their presence with a loud resounding knock. Instead, he was told a name several seconds later: “Brother Gary Stillman.” Immediately after the name there is another word that we can’t quite discern. At first it sounds like “a pharaoh” or perhaps “of arrow”, but upon closer listening it could be the word “avero”, which in Latin means “I approach”. 

 

Moments later the recorder captured one final word for the evening, and it sounds like “cancer.” Perhaps the male entity at the church was trying to tell us how he passed?

 


Although Beverly and I didn’t see the grey misty figure that started this adventure for us, as a team we captured the most audio phenomena we have ever heard from a single investigation, much less in a span of less than three hours. We’ll call it a Saturday night well spent, and hopefully someday we can piece more of this mystery together. 


Each of the EVPs described above can be heard in the clip below. They are included in sequential order as described in the story above. 

 

Hayley.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

The Return Visit: Miss Molly's


Date: April 18, 2019
Location: Miss Molly’s Hotel, Fort Worth, TX

On a Thursday night in mid-April, the SPI team (Don, Beverly, Hayley, John, and a family friend, Karen) drove south into the historic Stockyards of Fort Worth. We were headed to Miss Molly’s Hotel for the second time in hopes of once again encountering the many “ladies of the night” who once worked in the building when it was a bordello.

Our first visit to the hotel took place in 2012, and it was quite a memorable experience for all of us. Enough so, that we have all been interested in going back for several years.

This trip was not quite as exciting as the first, but there was still enough activity to let us know the spirits haven’t left their residence. Our infrared cameras captured orbs all throughout the night, and on multiple occasions the REM pod went off with no one in the vicinity. The REM pod is a type of electromagnetic field (EMF) detector that can be turned on and left alone. When something enters the EMF field the device produces a loud beeping and colorful lights flash. We had REM pod activity in the Railroader room as well as in the central landing area at the top of the stairs. On several occasions we observed EMF pulses with the K2 meters as well. We were not able to get anyone to answer specific questions using either the REM pod or our K2 meters, but we weren’t able to find any “normal” source for the EMF pulses either.

Flashlight turning on and off in Ms. Josie's Room
We also had a few instances where something turned a flashlight on and off, but we weren’t able to get anyone to interact with us this way to answer questions.

On our first visit to Miss Molly’s we ended up with some very interesting EVP recordings throughout the night. The spirits were not as talkative on this return visit, but we did capture one interesting clip. The hotel has two adjacent rooms called “Cowboy” and “Miss Amelia.” Miss Amelia was an employee of the establishment who frequently visited the Cowboy in the adjoining room. Don went into Miss Amelia’s room and began asking questions. When he first asked for confirmation if the spirit in the room was Miss Amelia, he got back a very prompt confirmation of “Amelia.”

The only really personal encounter we had happened again in the Railroader
The Railroader Room
Room. At around 1:30 in the morning, John went into the room alone and laid down on the bed. While he lay there, he had a K2 meter lying on the bed beside him. This flickered off and on intermittently as the REM pod had done in there earlier. At one point, the infrared camera captures an orb that crosses the room and swoops down over John’s leg. Just after the orb disappears, you can see John rise up and look towards his leg. After John came out of the room just a few minutes later he reported that something had touched his leg while he was laying on the bed. When he saw the video, he confirmed that the touch he felt is what made him raise him and look down at his feet. It seems like that particular orb was definitely more than just “dust.”

Our return visit may not have been as eventful as the first, but enough happened that we know the many spirits of Miss Molly’s are still alive and well, keeping the guests of the Stockyards company.

Hayley




Saturday, January 12, 2019

Returning to Miss Molly's Hotel

We are excited to be returning to Miss Molly's in the Fort Worth Stockyards this April! Just before Easter we will be headed back to Cowtown to spend another (hopefully) exciting night at this charming old hotel. Miss Molly's has a rich history as a boarding house, a bordello, and now a lovely hotel located perfectly in the downtown Stockyard region of Fort Worth.

Several years ago we spent a night here and had many personal experiences and captured some interesting EVP evidence that has made this one of our favorite investigations to date. You can read about our last encounters at the historic bed and breakfast here.

We will keep you posted on this adventure in the coming months.

Hayley

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Strange Mountain Encounters



Hello to all friends and followers of SPI, and a special welcome to our future followers. 
            I’m Don, the old guy of the group, and I’d like to tell you a story that has my son, Mitch, and me totally baffled.  Please remember that we treat the field of paranormal investigations with respect.  We don’t stretch the truth or put anything on this website that is not 100% factual or clearly stated as our opinion.
            First, some background: Every summer, Mitch and I travel to Colorado for a week or so of hiking.  Colorado has 54 “14ers”—mountains that reach an elevation of at least 14,000 feet.  Most of them can be summited with strenuous hikes and maybe some mild scrambling or boulder-hopping near the top.  The average round trip on a 14er is around ten miles—quite a trek for somebody from the south, considering how thin the Rocky Mountain air is. 
            In June of 2017, we hiked several of these mountains.  The last one we summited was Mount Shavano.  This is a high mountain that looms over the Arkansas River Valley just west of Salida. 
As usual, we got an early start—around 3 a.m.—so we could be off the exposed slopes and ridges before any afternoon thunderstorms could build up.  When we started, Mitch’s truck was the only vehicle at the trailhead, and during those first few dark hours, lit only by flashlights and moonlight, we were totally alone. 
Even after breaking the tree line at dawn, we were alone.  The trail on Shavano emerges from the trees and runs along the southern slope of a high ridge as it ascends toward a low point, a saddle, between Shavano and another peak.  As we progressed out of the trees that morning, the entire route up to Shavano’s summit became clearer and clearer, and we both commented that we were alone on the trail: there were no signs of anybody behind us, and certainly, there was nobody on the slopes ahead of us.
We commented that we might actually be, for the first time ever, the first ones to reach the summit.
As we neared the saddle, we finally saw signs of life on the mountain.  A group of four hikers—little more than specks from our vantage point—were coming up the slopes approximately two miles below us.
Again, this was the first time we’d seen any other hikers or climbers (some prefer to reach the saddle via a snow slope just below the main trail) on the mountain….  Yet, when we reached the summit, we were surprised to see a female hiker there, getting ready to descend.  She was around forty and wore a lavender-colored top or jacket and a cap that hid her eyes.  In a rather stern, firm voice, she said hello and proceeded to tell us that she’d come up the mountain via an alternate trail, or a “back” way.  Mitch asked her if that meant she’d come over Tebeguache Peak, a nearby fourteener that many people climb with Shavano via a connecting ridge. 
She said no and began to descend.
We shook our heads and wondered where she’d come from.
To be clear, there are only three established routes to the top of Shavano: the main trail, the previously mentioned snowfield, and the trek over Tebeguache.  Any other route would be a bushwhacking wilderness romp—not something a solo hiker should do.
We sat for a few minutes, ate a snack, and decided to go down.  As we picked our way around and over the summit boulders to begin our descent, we were shocked to find that she was nowhere in sight.  We could see all the way down to the saddle, across to the top of the thirteener on its other side, far down to the trees to the east, down into the deep valleys to the west…  We had nearly 360 degrees of view, and there was no sign of the lady we’d just talked to just moments ago.
We did, however, see the group of four hikers we’d spotted earlier.  They were cresting the saddle.
When we reached them, I asked if they had seen a woman hiking down from the summit.  I briefly described her.  All the hikers said no.
We kept hiking, and at some point I turned to Mitch and said, “I think we talked to a ghost.”
We half-laughed about it, but I was very serious and still am.
This was, as I said, in June, 2017.
But just a few days ago, on October 7, 2018, we learned that a woman’s bones were found on Mount Shavano.  Authorities believe they are the remains of a homicide victim from the early eighties.  After reading about this, I again started thinking about that woman we met at the top of Shavano. 
Based on my experiences with the paranormal, I believe a spirit will wait as long as it takes to speak to someone who can help them.  I don’t know if there is any connection between the hiker we met on the summit and the human remains found on the mountain.  I do know that the woman—where she came from and where she went—remains a mystery.
Again, we don’t know much, only that the woman we met was around forty.  She was in good shape.  She wore a cap and a lavender top or jacket. Mitch and I would be willing to re-hike Mount Shavano with proper equipment if a friend or relation wished to make contact.  I truly hope that anyone with any potential knowledge about this will contact us through this website (sebournparanormalinvestigations.blogspot.com) or via email at sebournparanormal@gmail.com.