Investigation: Private Residence, Brooklyn, NY
Date of Investigation: 12/2/06
Case File#: STRO - 12022006
The Scene
On Saturday, December 2nd, the EPIC team visited a 2-family home in Brooklyn, N.Y. The home sits in a residential neighborhood of Brooklyn. The EPIC team had access to the entire building, as the residents were away for the weekend.
Most of the activity that the residents have reported is centered around the 2 front bedrooms of the second floor apartment, as well as the second floor staircase landing and hallway. All of the apparitions seen in this building have been seen in this hallway. An apparition of an apparent Civil War soldier ("He looked like he was wearing a gray military uniform and short-brimmed hat.") has been seen entering the master bedroom, and a black "shadow person" apparition was seen peering into the living room from the door leading to the hallway. The majority of the activity reported in the building is heard, and not seen. Conversations between men is one of the most commonly reported paranormal activities, even when there are no men present, or nobody else is in the home at the time. Also heard have been footsteps, knocks on doors and walls, "sniffing like a dog" under the master bedroom door, and an overall feeling of being watched (especially for guests staying over in the home).
The EPIC team set up its base of operations (or "safe room") in the basement of the building, the furthest place we could be from the actual scenes of activity, to avoid any contamination. Infrared cameras, connected to the DVR system, were set up in the master bedroom, the smaller front bedroom, and the first floor landing of the stairs, looking up to the second floor landing and hallway. A camcorder was also placed in the master bedroom, smaller front bedroom, and living room looking into the hallway, to capture a different angle for each location. Each bedroom also had a digital audio recorder running throughout the investigation.
The Investigation
The EPIC team conducted this particular investigation as one team. Since we had full run of the house, and there were only 3 members attending, it was decided that one team would be best. We began the investigation by letting the cameras and audio records run for a bit, just to see what they would pick up. An initial EMF sweep was conducted as well. After approximately an hour, the team headed up to the master bedroom to begin EMF sweeps and EVP work. After an hour of EVP work, the team moved into the living room, to take some still photos of the hallway and staircase and some EMF sweeps . Finally, the team moved into the smaller bedroom to do more EMF sweeps and EVP work. At 1:30 AM, the team moved back to our safe room, and let the cameras and audio record for another 30 minutes. At 2:00 AM, the investigation was ended.
The Findings
During the investigation, the EPIC team did not experience the most commonly reported occurrence, voices or knockings. While in the safe room, we did at some points hear movement coming from the above floors. The EMF readings were a bit sporadic, and unusual. The initial sweeps were in the normal range, hovering around a 0.9 or 1.0. As the night progressed, the EMF readings fluctuated greatly. We recorded spikes as high as 3.0 in some locations that were reading as low as 0.5 earlier in the night. We also notices some spikes while we were doing our EVP work and trying to "provoke" a response.
As far as photographic and video evidence, nothing visual showed up on the camcorders. As usual, digital cameras were used, as well as standard 35mm film. We caught the usual dust orbs in one picture, and also saw them on video, but these were obviously dust, and nothing impressive. We did catch an anomaly on 35mm film, however. While photographing the second floor hallway, Artie photographed a completely black shape, near the doorway to the smaller bedroom (which is right next to the doorway to the master bedroom). Nothing was seen at the time, and the anomaly was only noticed once the film was developed. This is consistent with reports of a black "shadow person" seen in that same hallway.
As for the audio evidence, a few interesting things were found on playback. The most impressive was a voice we caught while doing EVP work in the smaller bedroom. Right before Artie asks a question, a voice is heard. It sounds male (consistent with what has been reported), and it difficult to make out. It sounds sort of like "How's that?" or "What was that?" but it is not any member of the EPIC team. The second piece of interesting audio was caught by the camcorder in the master bedroom. The team is in the living room taking pictures, and their voices can be heard, although very low, and no discernable words could be heard. However, the camcorder picked up a voice that sounded very close to the camcorder. It sounded like a child singing, something like "DOO-doo-doo..." Nobody at this point was near the camcorder, and this voice drowns out the conversation that the EPIC team is having at the other end of the house. The last piece of audio is a series of unusual knocks or bangs (also consistent with reports). The team was doing EVP work in the master bedroom, and were being quiet for a bit at this point, just to listen and get a feel for the room. You can hear three knocks, with the last one being while an investigator was sniffling. The unusual part is that we didn't hear any knocking during the investigation, but these are fairly clear on the audio.
On this investigation, Artie was the one to have a personal experience. While the team was in the master bedroom, Artie was provoking for a response. He suddenly felt very cold, and said he almost felt as if he was in real danger, medically. Again, this is consistent with reports from guests staying in that master bedroom. Sudden cold, panic, fear, the need to leave, feeling like a malevolent presence is watching. The other investigators had no unusual experiences, however.
Conclusions
The EPIC team believes there is enough evidence here to support the claims of paranormal activity in this residence. We seem to have caught many of the things that have been reported here on audio or as photographic evidence, including a male voice, a child's voice, knockings, and the black shape. We here at EPIC hope to be able to conduct a follow-up investigation to further support these findings.
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