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Anecdotal evidence is exactly what its called...anecdotal. It is important to gather the stories and legends that surround a location that is being
investigated. A paranormal investigation is often just four or five hours long. Even with mutiple visits, 4-15
hours at a location is often not enough to capture actual evidence of paranormal activity. The paranormal history
of a location can help direct and focus your investigation. Properly documenting that history can also serve an
important function in establishing the paranormal nature of a location. |
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FRANCIE'S EXPERIENCES
Francie Sachen was our host for the night of our investigation and a member of the museum staff. As a young girl
Francie worked in the orphanage's laundry room. And when the orphanage became a museum in 1988, Francie began volunteering
there...and has been associated with the museum ever since.
During her time there she has had several unexplainable experiences that she shared with us for this report. She
also related to us strange stories she has been told over the years. |
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UNEXPLAINED FOOTSTEPS
Francie was in the museum alone one afternoon working in the office, when
she heard footsteps in the hallway outside the office. It sounded like the footsteps were approaching down the
hallway. But when no one appeared in the office doorway, Francie went looking for whomever had made the sounds.
There was no one in the museum...and no one that could have have made the sounds. You can imagine how unsettling
that might be in such a large and ancient building.... |
SWINGING DOOR
Another time, Francie was alone in the Children's Dining Hall, when the door that led to the Formal Dining Room
began opening wide and then closing on its own, over and over again several times. The door between these two rooms
is a swinging door, but it is a very heavy door and weighted to return to and remain in a closed position. A draft
or change of pressure within the building could not have accounted for the door moving in this way. |
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SOUNDS OF MUSIC
The Nun's Hallway and the old dorm rooms along it now hold museum displays. But when the building was an orphanage,
this is where the nun's lived. Francie was in the hallway one day when she heard music playing. She looked for
some source of the music, but could find none. Eventually the music faded away and there was silence. |
Another volunteer at the museum has also heard unexplained music while in this area
of the building. Due to this reported auditory phenomenon we set up several audio recorders in this hallway and
focused some of our EVP work in this area of the building. We also took more photos in this hallway and its adjoining
rooms than any other part of the museum.
LADY IN RED
The "Lady in Red" is a legend connected with this big beautiful building. The first reported encounter
with her took place decades ago during the time the building was an orphanage. As the story goes, several nuns
were in the Chapel when a woman dressed in red formal clothes entered and asked them, "Where is the priest's
house?" |
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The nuns told the Lady in Red that the priest's house was directly to the south of the orphanage, and the Lady
in Red left the Chapel. Where she had walked the Lady in Red left a trail of blood droplets. The nuns cleaned up
the blood, and an older nun told the others never to speak of the incident again. If we assume for a moment that
this legend is based in truth, then we must also assume that one of the younger nuns did speak of the incident
again...and it has been passed down to us.
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LADY IN RED AGAIN
Decades later, sometime in the 1990's...the Lady in Red returned. Some ladies were in the Big Kitchen in the basement
of the building, preparing food for an event being held at the museum. In through the door walked a lady wearing
red 1940's style clothing. She simply asked, "Where is the priest's house?" Then she left through the
door. |
We did not focus on the Lady in Red legend during our first visit to the museum. But it is something we would like
to focus on more during a future visit.
VISITING PSYCHICS
Francie told us that around 5 years ago there was a stretch of time with quite a bit of reported paranormal activity
at the museum. A group of psychics were brought in to exam the house and "read" the situation there.
The psychics walked through the house, stopping in each room and commenting on what they felt there. While their
observations are not evidence
of paranormal activity, we will present their observations on an anecdotal basis as part of the background of the
locaton. |
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GIRL ROCKING
The psychics reported sensing the spirit of a young girl rocking in an unseen rocking chair in the tower area of
the 1st floor of the museum. Based on this "read" we placed a trigger object (a toy) in the tower are
and pointed a stationary video camera at it to detect movement. See the Strange Events section of this report for
details. |
FEELINGS OF "PRESENCE"
The group of psychics also sensed the "presence" of spirits in at least three other parts of the house.
We were unable to focus on two of the three locations, but we did follow up on one of them.
They sensed a female presence in the Chapel on the 1st floor. This is an interesting parallel to the Lady in Red
legend involving the Chapel. The psychics also sensed a female presence in the Master Bedroom on the 2nd floor
of the museum. |
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While we didn't follow up on either the Chapel or the Master Bedroom, we did expend
a fair amount of time and effort on the Recreation Room in the basement of the museum. It was hear that the group
of psychics sensed the presence of several children spirits, playing and moving about the room. We placed a trigger
object (a toy) in this room, took photos, and performed EVP work. See the Strange Events section of this report
for details.
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CHASED DOWN THE STAIRS
A female caterer was setting up for an event at the museum. When she opened a closet on the 3rd floor she was confronted
by a man, who came out of the closet with his hands out-reached towards her. She ran for the stairs that lead down
to the second floor and the man chased her. She said that the man chased her all the way down to the 1st floor
of the building...and then he was gone.
This experience of being chased was very upsetting to the female caterer, and she was in a panic. |
As her co-workers were comforting her, they noticed that her back was ice-cold. They
sat her down in a chair in the Ladies Parlor on the 1st floor so that she could relax and calm down. But when she
saw the photograph of James A. Cruise hanging on the wall...she pointed at it and said, "That's the man that
chased me!" To follow up on this story, we left a stationary audio recorder in the closet and did some EVP
work in that area.
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POPE'S ROOM WIDE OPEN
The Nuns' Hallway has a number of display rooms off of it that were once dorm rooms for the nuns of the orphanage.
One of these display rooms contains a number of items used by Pope John Paul II during his visits to the United
States. There is a bed, bedsheets, dishware, and many other objects...including a toothbrush! This room is visible
behind a glass wall and a locked door with a large glass panel in it. The key to the locked door is kept in safe
and is never taken out. |
Over the 2005 Christmas Holidays, the museum was closed down and locked up one night.
The Pope's room door was locked, as it always is. The next morning, the museum staff found that the Pope's room
door was open. Nothing was missing from the room and the key to the door was still securely locked away in the
safe.
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OBJECTS MOVED
Also during the 2005 Christmas Holidays...on the same morning the Pope's room door was found open...Christmas decorations
in the Girl's Dormitory were found moved and disturbed. A small manger that was part of a nativity scene was turned
completely around on the table where it was set up. And an 2nd baby Jesus figure was found in the display. |
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Straw that was neatly placed beneath a Christmas Tree in the room was found that
morning strewn across the floor of the room. The museum had been checked the night before when it was being closed.
The doors had been locked and the alarms set...and there were no signs of forced entry during the night. Besides
the Pope's room door being open, the manger being turned around, the addition of an extra baby Jesus, and the straw
being thrown across the floor...nothing else was found disturbed in the house. And nothing was missing.
Based on this reported event, we placed a trigger object (a toy) in this room
and pointed a stationary video camera at it to see if it would move. See the Strange Events section of this investigation
report for details.
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SO, WHAT'S IT ALL MEAN?
This is a very old and beautiful building. It served as a family residence for over three decades, witnessing births
and deaths, and a wide variety of family drama. It was then converted to an orphanage operated by nun's, and over
3,000 children called it home over the next 60 years. And since then it has served as museum, housing family heirlooms
and antiques brought to America from Europe by immigrants. Its amazing to consider all the life, emotion, and faith
invested in this building over the 12 decades of its existence. |
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But is the building haunted? Is it the site of paranormal activity or residual
energies? Check out the products of our investigation, and then make up your own mind...
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