Old House Woods
On November 3rd 2007 some friends and I went to check out "The Old House Woods". Located in Mathews County, Virginia, just outside the small unassuming town of Diggs, the area is mainly comprised of woods and marshlands.
At first glance, it is a quaint area nestled between the Chesapeake Bay and White's Creek. If it were not for the capricious and eerie stories told about this area, one could easily imagine long summer nights spent lounging on the back deck watching the waves hit the shore.
We arrived just before twilight and drove around the dirt roads to get a better understanding of our surroundings while it was still light. It was decided that we would first investigate the public beach area. The beach area has claims of a large phantom three-masted sailing ship seen moored just off the coast. There have also been claims of mysterious "diggers" seen shoveling as if looking for a long ago buried treasure. Along with apparitians of redcoats, pirates have also been associated with this area.
While attempting EVP in the beach area, we captured what we believe to be a cannon fire. I can attest that there was no loud boom heard while we were there. The caliper that this gun shot would have to have been to be picked up on EVP should have been heard at the time by all who were present. It was not, and was only detected later while reviewing the clips.
Our next stop was an area in woods that we believe the orginal house (for which the area is named) once stood. It has been rumored that before the turn of the century the original house caught on fire while no one was occupying it and somehow extinguished itself before fire fighters could respond. Sometime during the 1920's, the house again caught on fire. This time it burned to the ground. I have attempted to verify this story to no avail. As urban legends often do, this one will get chalked up as unverifiable.
The claims in this area are of strange lights that resemble lanturns or a green glow that illuminates the entire wooded area. Phantom dogs, horses or cows appearing and disappearing. A witch that glows green, who has been purported to be a fore-warner of doom. There have also alledgedly been people who have gone looking for the treasure that is buried there, never to be seen again.
While walking down the road towards our destination, some of the investigator's batteries and cameras were acting strange. One camera refused to be shut off even though the owner had used it many times before and had never had problems turning it off. One of my flashlights kept blinking off and on as if the batteries were low. I had placed new batteries in all of my equipment before leaving Virginia Beach.
By the time we reached the area where the house once stood, it was quite dark. According to the website North American Skies, the moon was waning crescent with 32% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated, but because the trees were so dense, I don't recall seeing the moon during this phase of the investigation. The temperature had dropped, but I did not (nor did anyone else present) have a thermometer, so I cannot say exactly what the temperature was.We had several digital audio recorders, and attempted contact through EVP. After reviewing the clips, I heard no anomalous sounds, or EVP.
I did, however capture this photo which is very baffling to me. One other photo taken by another woman present is similar in appearance to mine and was captured in a different section of the same wooded area. Her photo is below mine. The object in the photo I took may appear to be attached to the tree, but according to a friend who examined the photo very closely, it is indeed (in his opinion) free standing. I have been told that what I captured was a bug, and that very well may be, but if you compare it to the tree limbs, it would have to be huge. I'm no expert so I'll leave it to you to decide.
My Photo
Devin's Photo
Overall, I would have to say, while this was a fun place to hunt, I did not experience anything close to the urban legend's claim. I saw no headless dogs, or any other headless animal for that matter. I saw no green glowing witch warning of impending danger (for which I was thankful) I did not witness any ghost; pirate or otherwise. There was not a glimpse of the phantom ship that alledgedly moors just off the coast. Although, who knows I may have just picked the wrong night to go wandering around in the woods looking for phantoms.
Poor House Road Tunnel
Poor
In an attempt to understand the background of this alleged haunted area, I tried to find an event that may have triggered the activity. Although rumors abound about the place, you can’t find any reference to them on the internet.
According to locals, Poor House Road Tunnel, located just outside of Lexington, Virginia, holds dark secrets that the town would probably rather forget. Not only was it a place where many a lynching occurred in the 1900’s, it is also reportedly a place where other deadly tragedies have occurred.
Two stories, in particular, are whispered about amongst locals. It is said that in the not too distant past, two young girls were playing in the nearby woods where they were shot and killed by an unknown male. There is also talk of a woman who was raped and murdered inside the tunnel. I have not been able to verify any of this, so as with many urban legends, you are left with only rumors or hearsay.
Present on our investigation were Tom, Bethany, Devin, Adrienne and I, along with two newcomers, Daniel and Andrew. We took two separate vehicles keeping in touch by walkie-talkie and left from
Our equipment arsenal consisted of one RCA 64M digital voice recorder with a condenser microphone two RCA EDU10510 digital voice recorders, one Canon Power Shot SD1000 7.1MP Digital Elph camera, one Kodak Easy Share Z700 4 MP digital camera Digital Camera - Sony Cyber Shot 816, a Sony Handy Cam Mini DVD with night shot, flashlights, and a digital thermometer.
As we wound our way around the darkened back roads, it was noticeable that the sounds of the day had quieted and the air temperature had lowered considerably. Even though according to the moon charts (which I checked before leaving) the moon was waning 3% crescent, there was no moon visible. We accessed the site via
It was decided that we would drive through the tunnel to see what was on the other side. Tom announced this via walkie-talkie to the rear vehicle and we proceeded cautiously. Inside the tunnel there is graffiti covering most of the walls letting you know that there have been recent visitors, but when examining the architecture you get the sense that the tunnel has been around a while. Actually it was originally part of the railway system that ran between
The road on the back side of the tunnel seems even more remote, and the large trees that skirt the road form an arch that frames the road, creating an awning effect. We found a place to turn around and approached the tunnel from the opposite direction. Wanting to get some pictures of the outside of it, we stopped and shone our headlights directly on the tunnel.
After the initial "sizing up" of the site, we all bundled up and headed towards the tunnel. The temperature was 34 degrees both inside and outside of the tunnel. There was slight precipitation, which mainly consisted of a light fog towards the end of the night.
Together we walked through the tunnel and congregated on the opposite side. Teams of two were dispersed back into the tunnel. Claims have been made that children's voices can be heard saying "c'mon" inside of the tunnel. Also there is said to be a black mist or haze that forms near the entrance of the tunnel and approaches those inside. None of us experience that night what others have claimed. We did, however, capture these anomalous photos.
The lights were not visible to the naked eye, yet were captured on the Canon Power Shot SD1000 7.1MP Digital Elph camera. The one near
As for the photo with Tom and me towards the entrance of the tunnel. You can see Tom's hands are nowhere near where the light is coming from, but he did have a flashlight with him when we entered. It kinda looks to me as though he has the flashlight under his chin as he tries to turn on the camcorder. Is this paranormal or would a flashlight's beam caught by a camera shutter look like this? I'm not sure, and we will have to experiment and try to recreate this anamoly.
It does seems strange to me that we have two pictures which are similar to each other. In one picture the person has a flashlight on, and in the other picture (producing the same effect) the person does not have a flashlight on. Is this paranormal? I can't say one way or the other, but it does make one wonder that if the flashlight is left out of the equation, what is the element that would cause the pictures to produce similar results?
I am not a big fan of orbs, but the one in the picture below just sorta pops out at you given the circumstances surrounding the taking of this photo. While Bethany and I were outside of the tunnel waiting for our turn to do EVP inside, we both saw flashes which began above and to the left of the tunnel and moved to the right. The flashes were intermitten over the timespan of about five minutes. Devon snapped this photo in the direction of those flashes shortly after we visually saw them.
It was very damp that night. As a matter of fact, there is a small trickle of water that runs through the tunnel, so I suppose this could be moisture in the air and may very well have nothing to do with the flashes that were witnessed.
We next decided to walk up the road away from the tunnel. As we were leaving the tunnel, this intriguing EVP was captured using an RCA M64 digital voice recorder equipt with a radioshack 33-33013 condenser microphone. In the beginning of the clip you can hear all of us talking. The voice that was captured seems much closer to the microphone than even me. I had the microphone clipped onto my pocket, and the recorder was inside my pocket.
Later we captured this one as we came back towards the tunnel on the same recorder. While it is not as clear as the first one, it is there all the same. I ran both clips through Audacity, but have not changed them in any way (not even amplification). I did select just the portions of the raw audio that I believe to be EVP to be posted here in order to conserve space. I don't think anyone would want to sit through 45 minutes of audio just to hear a two second EVP. I would love to hear what you think they may be saying. If you want to email me your thoughts you can do that by clicking on the link below.
Can I say that Poor House Road Tunnel is haunted? No, I cannot. I can only share with you what we have uncovered with our investigation and let you decide for yourself. It seems to me that some urban legends are better off staying hidden beneath the rumors and hearsay, lest the truth be worse.
Gettysburg
Each year over 1.8 million people visit what has been dubbed the most haunted place in America. Most visitors are not seeking to have contact with the dead, but rather are looking to understand a part of American history. As you will see by the story I will be posting soon, I am not like most people. My only goal on my first Gettysburg trip was to find disembodied souls willing to interact with me.
Private Residence-Cornfield Investigation
Abandoned Shack on Outskirts of Property
Nestled on a lonely isolated road in Chesapeake, Virginia is a private residence that we investigated in October of 2007. The casual passerby would probably not even take a second look at the house, as it does not stand out in the neighborhood. It was built in 2002 over an existing foundation, and blends in perfectly with the other houses in the neighborhood. Despite the continual building up of the surrounding area, this particular area is still quite remote and once was preferred by bootleggers due to its isolation.
The family who occupies the existing house consists of husband, wife, teenage boy, and twin three year old boys. The claims of activity have been seen or heard by all living in the house, both alone and sometimes simultaneously. One notable incident occurred in the twins' bedroom and was witnessed by the wife and the twins. They witnessed what has been described as lights floating above and around the boys' bed. The twins described the floating orbs as balloons.
The twins have also seen a man that visits their room. They refer to their eerie visitor as the bird man. It was reported that a light bulb shattered in its socket when no one was near it, and that several doors have opened and closed by themselves. The adults in the house have seen a wispy gray shadow figure approximately three feet tall moving in the area between the kitchen and living room. Black shadows have also been seen in many of the rooms, as well as star shaped glowing objects which were captured by the homeowners in photos. There are also claims of audio phenomena that manifest in the form of knocking and banging.
We set up three closed circuit cameras; one in the twins' bedroom, facing the door; one in the hallway showing three of the doors that have been known to open and close on their own; and the third camera in the kitchen, facing the living room. In the teenage boy's room we set up a camcorder angled to face the door. Our command center was in the dining room. Each team had some type of audio recorder and digital camera.
Lisa Follows an EMF Spike with No Electical Power Running to the House
We had 5 teams of three that we rotated between the different stations. Because the house only had three stations inside, including the command station, two teams were assigned outside stations; one in the back field, and one in the abandoned house also located on the property.
During review of the evidence collected, we found what we believe to be several EVP. Below are three of the clearest. Please feel free to leave us a message as to what you think is being said on the EVP.
While we did not investigate the room over the garage, this anomalous photo was snapped by one of the investigators.
We have presented our findings to the homeowners and they have agreed to let us conduct a second investigation. It is our hopes that with the second investigation, we will get a chance to substantiate or debunk our original findings.
