Residential, Peshtigo WI

This past weekend, we were contacted via our Facebook account regarding a potential haunting in Peshtigo.  The original, although edited message is as follows; the only thing removed from the message is the person's name, address, and phone number.

Quote :

My home is haunted, please help. I live at ~~~, in Peshtigo. I have poltergeist activity, a picture of a ghost in the television, and now 2yr old hranddagranddaughter who lives with me is telling me about people only she can see, and what they're doing, such as winking at her, and something happened upstairs to the man she sees in my room. Both of my sons who live here have also had less than pleasant experiences. If you can help, call me, ~~~, at ~~~.

I replied to the message yesterday afternoon, and called the individual this morning.  They returned my call at 10:15a, and we discussed the home and the situation for roughly 15 minutes.  From what was discussed, these are the things that have been reported to have occurred within the home:

• The owner's son has been pushed down the basement steps
  
• Believed to contain 6+ entities.  Son has seen two males in his room, another child has seen something lurking within the closet, something is believed to be in the attic (child slides dresser in front of attic door because it's apparently been pushed open before); a male figure has been seen in the kitchen; a female ghost image has been seen in the TV; a little girl has been seen throughout the house; a male occupies or inhabits the owner's room
  
• No one willingly goes upstairs, as that's where most of the stuff occurs
  
• Youngest child plays peek-a-boo with one of the entities and always knows where it (he) is
  
• When the son is home, things ten to calm down.  When he's not, items come off his bedroom wall, noises like moving furniture can be heard upstairs or in attic
  
• The owner, when coming home from work, saw the son waving from his bedroom window.  The owner called to him from downstairs, no answer.  Called him on his phone for him to come down, turns out he was never home
  
• Neighbor hears people speaking in German coming from the backyard
  
• The son's friends won't come over, they're too freaked out
  
• baby's toys will start by themselves.  These toys are motion activated, go off at night
  
• Something has been mimicking the baby's crying.  They hear cries, go in baby's room, baby's fast asleep
  
• Dogs have been reported to watching something, don't like going into kitchen
  
• The owner has felt a presence standing by her bed when shes sleeping / lying in bed
  
• The owner also told me that they believe the house isn't so much haunted, but rather that they are.  Seems every place they've lived in has been haunted.
  

What I like and found interesting was this: when the person and I were setting up a day and time to come out, we lost the phone connection.

We'll be going to the residence tomorrow afternoon to conduct a preliminary investigation and interview session. Additional information to follow.

In preparation for this, we've begun to do some research on this location. Haven't been able to turn up anything of significance yet: there's mention of several reportedly haunted locations within Peshtigo, but none within the area of this residency; no obituaries or death notices (suicide, murder, or natural) listed; I even went to the site Historic Mapworks to get a general feel of the location from a historical perspective, but the site isn't being that cooperative at the moment.

I've printed up some papers dealing with basic German phrases in order to conduct a more accurate EVP (when the time comes); I've gone ahead and printed some French phrases as well. Peshtigo was heavily populated by the French, and if these entities are at all tied to Peshtigo's past, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared.

My initial concern is on how it seems that everything seems to be tied to the son in the home. Even though everyone has experienced something within this residence, a lot of it tends to be influenced by or associated with the son (the basement, the events in the bedroom, attic). Heck, the children in general. Playful spirits? They do seem to be playing with, or rather toying with, those living there, and it does help explain playing with the baby's toys, peak-a-boo, and even the waving / crying portion of things. Playing... wanting attention... gets upset when it's ignored? It clearly gets upset with the boy for some reason, for not being there when it wants to play.

I really don't know, I'm just thinking aloud as it were.

Dogs are said to be sensitive to spiritual entities, as are children This explains the reactions of the dogs, and how the younger children interact with the entities (playful). Again, I don't know, I can't say one way or the other, as I'm just speculating.

Irregardless, so far it seems that Wendy and myself will be meeting with the owner to conduct the preliminary. Since whatever is happening at the location seems to be centering around children, Steven will not be attending any investigations conducted at this site.

The owner of the residence sent me a couple images that were taken within their home for me to look at and to get my opinion of.  The first picture was taken by one of the other residents: this is the woman's face appearing in the television as mentioned in the opening post (this was originally taken as a snapshot message).  The second image was taken after Wendy and I left: note the image on the bottom right, right of the green towel.





Upon first seeing the television picture, I loved it.  What was depicted was, quite honestly, amazing to me... you can clearly see a woman's face.  But once I received a copy of this image and began to examine it, things started to appear a bit differently.

Please note that these are strictly my opinions.  They may not represent NLPRS as a whole, or the person who took the image or shared it.  This is just my explanation.

If you zoom in on the television image, the eyebrows are inline with the window sash... as well as the rod that is to the left of the window; since the window seems to have the same things on both sides, it could stand to reason that the curtains might also be there on the right.  Note too that that counter top matches the color of her lips, and the gentleman's hands appear to be holding something, and that these give the illusion of lips / chin.  Regarding the nose, if you look at the curtain (or whatever) to the left of the window, you can see that there is a thicker / darker line running down the middle, at about the same location as the nose if you were to flip it over to the right.  The hair coloring also matches the color of the wall.  Looking at the counter top in the fore-ground, you can note that it is highly reflective: you can see the window reflected, as well as the woman's arm / body on the left.  Draw a line down, you'll see that what appears as a necklace matches whatever it is the man is holding in his left hand.  In my opinion, and again this is only my opinion, this is an example of pareidolia (seeing faces in patterns).  This isn't to say there isn't a face there, this is just my saying what it looks like under further review.  **Upon further reflection, those aren't curtains, that's the wall coloring under the cabinets; likewise, those aren't rods, that's the bottom of the cabinet.  Also, when viewing the grid, you'll see that the eyes are four grids apart, as are the other recessed lights.



In regards to the blurred image from the bedroom, in my opinion, it kind of resembles the pug, and that the picture was taken as the dog turned its head. If you zoom in on the image, you can see the same coloring and markings; the left side of the blur shows the dog looking straight on, while the right half shows the dog looking to the side (you can see the shape of the snout). But as I said, that's just what it looks like to me.



Don't know what happened here!  I'm thinking that the picture was resized for the forum.  This does wonders for a previously resized image!  But hopefully you can see what I mean, you'll just have to blow up / zoom in on the original.

Again, and I cannot stress this enough, this is simply my opinion with my explanation.  This does not impact anything else that has been reported to have occurred within the household; one must always approach any investigation with a neutral, but open, mindset, and explore any train of thought.

**These photos are being shared with expressed permission: the originals were taken from the owner's Facebook page.

Due to the ordering of additional cameras and accessories, and because of the recent Easter weekend, we did not have a return visit until this past Saturday, April 26.  

I arrived to the residential at approximately 1420, and began to set up our cameras at about 1430.  The camera locations, along with the reasoning why, are as follows:

*  Living room, facing length of house - reports of "the old man / guy" walking through
*  In the kitchen, facing diagonally - reports of "someone" walking through
*  In the attic, facing length - I did this myself because of the report of the door being forced open
*  In the room with the attic door - "something" in closet, and for the attic door being forced open
*  In the opposite bedroom - stuff being knocked off of shelves, "people" seen in window
*  In backyard - neighbor's wife hearing German being spoken back there.

All cameras were mounted on tripods, situated so that the back was well within the corner of the room; the only exception was that of the one placed in the kitchen.  That camera was merely attached to its standard base, and placed on top of a kitchen cabinet.  All cameras had a good and clear view of the rooms, with no obstructions.  The camera placed in the back yard was stabilized by three construction bricks so that the tripod wouldn't blow over during the upcoming rainstorms or heavy wind.

...

I returned to the residence on Tuesday, arriving at roughly 1650, to retrieve the cameras.  The head of the household informed me that it was a rather quiet weekend with nothing of note happening.  While removing the cameras, I noted that each was in its original position and still operating.

While upstairs, the head remembered that they had come back home this weekend to see that the bedroom light was on and that the camera (within this room) was unplugged; she then told me she asked everyone else within the house if anyone had turned the lights on / unplugged the camera, to which everyone responded in the negative.  I informed her that the cameras record in 30 minute increments, so it will be easy for me to check the smallest file to see who entered the room and unplugged the camera; this camera was facing the bedroom's only entrance, and they record for ten seconds after the power is cut.  I'm hoping something paranormal reveals itself with this, but at the same time I have to remain on the side of caution.

All told, there were six cameras set up, having recorded an estimated 75 hours each, thus giving us 450 hours of video to review!

I'll be primarily focusing on the two bedrooms located upstairs, as that is were most of the occurrences have reportedly taken place. Next will be the living room (it had a great view of most of the lower level) and then the one in the kitchen. I'm not to certain how well the audio on these cameras are, so I'll save the one in the backyard for last.

With this much to watch, I'll concentrate on the evening hours. All residents have stated that the activity seems to start at 2000, so I'll begin reviews at 1800 or 1900. I'll post results or findings as they are found, with owner's permission.

As an update to this investigation, nothing came up on the cameras.

From what the residents have told me, things were quiet in the home for a few months after the investigation, with nothing to report.  However, over the past couple months, things have started to resurface, with the amount of activity building up.

We were contacted to come back out in December, but because of a mix of holidays and home issues, we weren't actually able to come out until this past week.  I went out on Tuesday January 13th to set up cameras.  Starting at the upstairs: one camera went into the room overlooking the backyard (reports of cat acting oddly, noises can be heard), and a second camera at the top of the stairs, overlooking the small hallway and down into the stairs and small landing (reports of an old man coming up stairs).  On main level: a camera in the kitchen looking out into the dining room (apparitions moving through the rooms, some in kitchen); camera in dining room, aimed with stairs and living room in view (reported sightings of people walking through room, adjacent bedrooms); camera aimed at dining room / adjacent bedrooms (to act as cross reference of dining room camera); camera within a bedroom (sightings of people within, sounds).

Due to time constraints, I was unable to get further information regarding the latest events.  However, the owner and I have exchanged messages via email.  I am posting those messages here, edited for confidentiality purposes.

Email 1, received December 22nd - Hi Michael...It's been awhile since we've chatted, so I hope all is good with you & yours. A lot has happened since then, kinda, so I'll bring you up to speed. After you guys left things were quiet for a month or so. ..And then, the activity started back up. Now that {child's name "Y"} is 3 and in school, and has a HUGE vocabulary, she is seeing "people". Over the summer one of our friends gave {son's name "B"} a crucifix to hang in his room. It was blessed & prayed over, and {B} hung it in his room. ALL activity throughout the whole house stopped. For roughly 3-4 months NOTHING!! The dogs had even relaxed lol. Recently, about a month ago things started back up. {Y} sees them, which really doesn't surprise me. I'm sure she has seen them all along, but now that she can converse with us she will ask questions. " Whose that man in the kitchen? " There's someone scary in my room". We never react to her statements, but we do ask her questions sometimes, or tell her to talk to them. We never coach her or discuss things in front of her. We ALL hear another little girls voice, sometimes giggling, or {Y} talking to her. The 2 boys and {Y} heard her scream at the top of her lungs. {Y} also heard it and asked "what was that?" They told her it was the cat lol. {Y} sees the man in the kitchen, as we previously discussed. I know she sees the little girl because she sometimes talks to her. She also sees someone or something that she's afraid of...Not sure as to who it is. Two nights ago {B} came down to my bedroom after I got home from work ( 3am) and told me the spooks are back in his room. He clearly heard a voice say, "SSsshhh..." followed by the sound of feet shuffling across his floor. He said he watched his cat watch "them" walk from one side of his room to the other. I know you have a career & family that also needs your attention, and I know it's really poor timing with the holidays, but do you think you could come back after the first of the year, or when things settle down with you??

Email 2, received January 12th - Any time any day is good. Bring everything you have lol. You're more than welcome to spend a night or two. Just let me know when you're ready. We have more eye witnesses to the incidents, but it's so crazy here I can feel the energy being sucked right out of me. When I hear someone or something breathe in my ear when I go to bed I kinda lose a little sleep. My landline is {xxx-xxx-xxxx}. Kitchen, {Y}'s room, my room, stairway landing and the entire upstairs. Not worried about the basement or yard...

The owner has expressed interest in a home cleansing, but details about this, as well as the recent happenings, will not be able to be collected until (hopefully) this coming weekend, where it is intended that an extended stay is to happen.

The NLPRS Team went out to this residence on Saturday, January 17 2015.  Our newest member, Raven, accompanied me, with us arriving at about 5:45p; Wendy arrived at approximately 6:10p.

Before anything really started, I began to download the video footage captured thus far.  Besides learning that it take a fair bit of time to transfer 15GB from an SD card to a laptop (multiply that by six, one for each camera), I discovered that I had inadvertently set up one of the cameras upside down.  Easy enough to do, as they have a mount fitting on top and bottom, but still... I should have noticed that when I set them up.  Additionally, a digital voice recorder was set up on the dining room table and activated.

There was nothing new to report on since the email exchanges, no new activity to report.  

We performed a smudging ceremony on the residents and the home itself; one of the residents didn't wish to be smudged, and a visitor within the home was reluctant, but both participated anyway.  A second visitor left the home during the smudging, and as such did not participate.  White sage was used, along with a raven's feather to fan the smoldering embers, with a flat stone containing fossilized shells to hold the sage and ashes.  Throughout the smudging, Raven followed the residents and I was we went from room-to-room for the smudging with a video camera, recording the proceedings.

After the smudging, Raven and a resident conducted an EVP session from within the basement and the kitchen, but after some consideration it was decided to end further attempts at contact, in the belief that it might draw entities in that may have just been released from the smudging.  Equipment used was the same video camera and a second digital voice recorder.

At this point, I finished downloading the video and left the cameras behind as we backed up to leave, hoping that a few extra days might prove of value.  The team departed, time unknown at this moment (though it is recorded).

***

On reviewing the footage obtained through the bedroom overlooking the backyard, I noticed some interesting behavior from the cat; to me, it looked as if the cat was following something, that something held it's attention.  Wendy, upon review of the clip herself, commented that it looked as if the cat were following a laser light.

Anyway, I went back to the segment and watched it in more detail.  I noticed that the cat appeared to either follow, or was attracted to, orbs.  I usually don't give much credit to orbs, as they have been easily explained and have shown to be simply dust particles.  However, this particular camera recorded roughly 33 hours of footage, and this was the only instance of dust seen.  This does not mean that it wasn't dust, as it is always a possibility, I'm just saying that there wasn't dust seen in any other part of the video from that room.  These orbs are shown as different sizes (which could be explained as being at different distances from the camera), and moving at different speeds (some even turning).  In one instance, the cat moves to the corner of the bed, and an orb can be seen moving from the chimney to the camera; moments later, the camera begins to lag and becomes choppy.

Again, going by this clip, one cannot conclude that there is anything there besides dust.  The cat's behavior could be normal as far as I know; I've never witnessed a cat act in such a manner before, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen.  Likewise, the orbs could very well be dust; perhaps the lighting outside the room (there was a window behind the camera as well as right next to the bed) was enough to highlight dust better.  And the camera's choppiness, although never experienced or witnessed before (or after) does not mean that it wasn't a fault with the camera.  However, in a field such as this, one has to look at all the evidence, as circumstantial as it is.  As such, I've marked the video clip as being a potential or possible evidence.  The video is posted below, with permission from the head of the household.

Note: It'll be better to watch this video in fullscreen.