A Third Trip to the Hill House Manor

Date: August 1, 2025 

Location: Hill House Manor, Gainesville, Texas 

After almost 13 years, it was time to revisit the Hill House Manor, which we last investigated in November 2012. While we and the house have aged a bit over the last decade, much of it was just the same as we remembered, and this time granddaughter Lilly went with us for her first visit to the unique, historic house.

At some point in its history, the house appears to have been used as three separate apartments. The downstairs portion of the two-story house is divided in half by the staircase and foyer. To the left upon entry is a door leading to a furnished living room, dining room, bathroom, and kitchen, and to the right is a semi-unfinished part of the house with several rooms used for storage and an old well that has been unearthed and enclosed with plexiglass. Upstairs is another set of semi-furnished rooms, including a partial kitchen, pass-through bathroom, living room, and bedroom.We set up our base station and monitor in the living room on the furnished side of the house, which can be closed off from the un-air conditioned foyer, upstairs, and unfinished half of the downstairs. Much as with our first two visits, the entities of the house seemed to prefer playing games with us rather than giving us any crystal clear evidence. We experienced a variety of personal encounters from hearing voices and getting EMF spikes to seeing things move that weren’t really moving at all. One of the most common occurrences throughout the night was having the motion sensing “cat toy” balls light up along the staircase when no one was near the stairs or even moving through the house. Multiple times throughout the night while one or two team members were either in the unfinished half of the downstairs or upstairs sitting quietly or doing an EVP session, those of us watching the infrared cameras on our monitor would see the light-up balls flashing for several seconds at a time. Often these triggers would be associated with a small orb or two as well. A couple of clips of this are included below.

Similarly, in the upstairs kitchen there is a table with playing cards, poker chips, a mostly empty bottle, and another of the motion sensor cat toy/balls on it. Don had several instances of the lights on the ball going off while he was sitting at the table asking questions. When testing why the sensor may have been triggered, it seemed that either pretty firm force had to be applied to the table or direct contact made with the ball. 

We also had several interesting auditory experiences, most of which our recorders did not pick up. Early on in the evening while Beverly and I were upstairs alone in the back toy/sun room, we both heard a single word spoken by a male voice from the front bedroom. John and Don were both downstairs in rooms with doors closed, so it is unlikely a single word of any conversation they may have been having would have travelled upstairs to us. Later on, Beverly heard a single cat’s meow in the unfinished downstairs area.There was no cat in the house, and we heard no other animal noises from outside or inside the house the rest of the night. At one point while Don and Beverly were upstairs in the sunroom they heard what sounded like a metal tray dropping onto tile coming from the adjacent bathroom, but they couldn’t find any source for the sound. Our audio recorders didn’t pick up any of these sounds. 

However, Don had one experience in the upstairs kitchen of a sound being picked up on his recording very plainly that he didn’t hear out loud. While he got no voice responses to any questions on his recorder during his many EVP sessions, the recorder did pick up a brief instance of what sounded like a hard plastic bead or marble bouncing and rolling. Nothing of the sort occurred while he was in the room for him to hear the sound out loud or see the source of it, but upon hearing it on the recorder his first thought was of a roulette wheel given that the room appeared to have been set for a night of gambling. The brief audio clip of this can be heard below.

Throughout the early part of the night, it seemed as though the odd occurrences we had on our previous visit to the house were not going to be repeated. However, a few hours into the investigation, Don experienced a repeat of the same dancing red camera lights he and John had seen back in 2012. We again had an infrared camera set up in one of the front rooms facing down the hall towards the “murder room” at the back of the house. Again on this visit, the same phenomenon occurred where it looked to Don as though the infrared camera in the other room was moving on the table, rotating in circles and moving side-to-side several inches at a time. However, Lilly and I were not able to see this when we each joined him on separate occasions, and it was clear from the video feed that the camera never actually moved. Once again, just as in 2012, the entire experience seemed to be mentally projected for only certain members of the team to see. 

Hayley.

Date: June 20 - 21, 2025
Location: Historic Morgue, Ozark, Missouri

If there is anything the SPI team loves just as much as ghost hunting, it is antique hunting, and Ozark, MO offers the best of both worlds! When I came across the Historic Morgue listing on Airbnb, I knew we had to visit because we had been looking for an opportunity to return to Ozark and browse the many antique stores since we drove through there a few years ago on our way to Villisca, IA.

The Historic Morgue property sits just off the town square and is in the rear part of a historic church that has been converted into an antique store. The morgue space now features a variety of eclectic skeletal decor as well as old photos and advertising associated with the past business and an embalming table in the bathroom! We didn’t get any real evidence in terms of EVPs or apparitions caught on camera during our stay, but we had some very interesting experiences, so we left feeling confident there is something or someone residing at the morgue.

For us, activity in the morgue was centered on the bathroom. Shortly after settling in, I decided to get a shower, and just as I was getting out I heard a series of 3 or 4 muffled bangs that sounded like someone was pounding on the main entrance door. No one else heard a thing. Similarly, later that night when my mom was wrapping up her shower someone whistled in the bathroom, but again, no one outside the room heard anything. 

A short while later, while John was showering the rest of us were relaxing in the living room/sleeping area. My dad was lying on the double bed, which faces towards the entry hall and bathroom, which has a frosted glass panel in the door. John was still in the shower, but my dad saw a blue-tinted human shape (from about the chest up) form in the glass. The shape persisted for a while and seemed to move around before eventually losing shape and the entire glass panel taking on a blue tint. We did our best to recreate the phenomenon with people moving around the bathroom with various light combinations on and off, but we couldn’t get the same effect to repeat.

Overnight, our teen daughter, Lilly, was awoken by the sensation of someone sitting on her bed. This was her first personal experience of something like this, and it left her a little rattled and unable to return to sleep for a while so she and my dad got out the KII meters and did some further investigating. Much like it had earlier in the night, the KII meter registered significant spikes only in the hallway outside the bathroom. 

It was during these early morning hours that my dad had an interesting auditory experience, again in the bathroom. He was doing an EVP session near the embalming table and asked for whoever was there with us to share what happened to them. In response was a series of loud, quick pops that sounded almost like gunfire. We all tried to recreate the sound by walking around the space to see if any floorboards popped, but we couldn’t even get close. Maybe someone really was trying to give us a clue?

If you’re ever in southwestern Missouri and need a place to stay, we think you’d find the Historic Morgue very comfortable and unique. The hosts are very responsive and happy to make suggestions if you need anything, and they even provide some fun paranormal investigation tools for guest use in case you want to connect with those who seem to call the Airbnb space home full time.

Hayley.

Haunted History in Texas

Date: September 14, 2024
Location: Presidio la Bahia, Goliad, Texas

For Don’s birthday this year we decided to go on a ghost hunting adventure with the newest member of our family team, granddaughter Lilly. What better place than a National Historic Landmark in the form of a Spanish colonial fort dating back to 1749?

Presidio la Bahia was home to one of the bloodiest massacres in Texas history when the state was seeking freedom from Mexico in the 1830s. On Palm Sunday in 1836 over 300 soldiers were mercilessly slaughtered in the Goliad Massacre, including Colonel J.W. Fannin. While all of the deaths that day are tragic, the story of Colonel Fannin’s death seems to stand out. When it came time for his own death, he asked the Mexican soldiers to at least do him the mercy of shooting him through the heart instead of the face as they had his men, and he asked them for a Christian burial. Both requests were declined, and the Mexican soldiers stole his watch after shooting him in the face and threw his body on the pyre to be burned with the others. You can learn more about the site and the history of the Goliad Massacre by visiting the Texas Historical Commission's website.

In the present day, visitors to the Presidio often report seeing shadowy figures of the long-dead soldiers as well as hearing gunfire and screams echoing through the fort. Other reports include seeing a woman in white wandering around outside the chapel and seeing a short friar walking the courtyard. We approached this investigation hoping to experience even one of these frequently reported incidents, and while we didn’t necessarily have those encounters, we did not leave disappointed. 

After checking in for our night’s stay in the on-site quarters (a cozy little two bedroom suite with a kitchenette and living room), we explored downtown Goliad while we still had daylight so we could see the historic courthouse and the massive “hanging tree” that still grows on the front lawn. After the short drive back to the Presidio we got our equipment set up and began exploring the fort. Early in the night, while out exploring the barracks, Don and John caught an EVP of a male voice saying a quick “no” when asking if anyone wanted to interact with the REM-POD.

Later, around 11:30, when Lilly went out to explore the barracks the group had an interesting experience where there seemed to be an extra shadow being cast on the fort wall, following behind Beverly and Lilly. Around the same time, the K-II meter Bev was using, which had detected no EMF spikes previously, registered low levels of energy in the area. While they weren’t able to capture this brief experience on camera, the personal experience and possibility of something following her was enough to send Lilly running back to the quarters!

Throughout the night we all had some small experiences, such as my flashlight not wanting to stay on in the barracks, but working just fine when walking around the fort and Beverly hearing someone moving around in the kitchen around 3:30 a.m. while she was watching the infrared monitors. At that time, Don was out in the courtyard and the rest of us were lying down for a break. We also captured several unexplainable sounds on our audio recorders, such as strange rumbling sounds when it was a very quiet night, heavy breathing, and several soft vocal responses that we weren’t able to discern. 

At one point Don captured a male voice, perhaps the friar who has been seen near the chapel, responding “yeah” when asking about who else might be buried around the chapel. From our research, sightings of the friar often begin with a misty form seeming to rise from the ground before it takes shape and moves off. While we didn’t see a fully formed apparition, we did capture a bluish misty shape on our infrared camera in the courtyard.

In the images below, you can see that in the first image there is nothing on the left side of the monitor, but in the second image, captured just 5 seconds later there is a blue mist. Watching the footage in real time, the mist started at the ground and rose up before it disappeared from view. When this happened, Don rushed outside to where the camera was located in the courtyard outside of our quarters, but there was nothing visible to the naked eye.

Perhaps the most interesting EVP of the night happened around 1:30 a.m. when Don was in the courtyard at the memorial for Colonel Fannin with his audio recorder. Don mentioned that if there was a message the Colonel wanted to share with the world, we could try to make it known if the Colonel would talk to him. After that statement from Don, the recorder captured a soft male voice saying what sounds like, “I did nothing wrong.” The audio clip of this and the other EVPs mentioned above can be heard by playing the short video below.

We were really hoping to see one of the often reported apparitions during our stay, and while that didn’t happen we all had a good time and had a few little instances that gave us goosebumps and made us feel like there is definitely a ghostly presence at the Presidio. Hauntings aside, we also greatly appreciated learning about the brutal history of the place and being able to spend time alone in such a unique, historic structure. Goliad may be a bit off the beaten path, but it was well worth the journey to southeastern Texas!

Hayley

Upcoming Hunt in Texas

 

The SPI team is looking forward to making a trip to southern Texas this September for a ghost hunt at Presidio la Bahia. This Texas Historical Commission site is a fort dating back to the Spanish colonial period (established in 1749) and was home to one of the bloodiest massacre's in Texas history when the state was seeking freedom from Mexico in the 1830s. Over 300 soldiers died in the Goliad Massacre, and visitors to the Presidio often report seeing shadowy figures of the long dead soldiers as well as hearing gunfire and screams echoing through the fort. You can learn more about the site and the history of the Goliad Massacre by visiting the Texas Historical Commission's website.

We are excited to spend the night in this historic location and hope to experience some of the ghostly activity for ourselves! Check back later in September to see what we find!

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.

 

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

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!