The Dead are Watching

by Debra Robinson

  Not too long after, the last of the residents were moved elsewhere, and the building was sold to a university. I believe the only classes they should hold there are ghost hunting classes—because there’s definitely something to hunt!

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  4

  They Don’t Mean to Stare

  My ghost hunting friend Brian Fain, founder of MGHS (Massillon Ghost Hunters Society), has been interested in the afterlife since he was a child. I’ve found this is true of most of us paranormal enthusiasts, both professional investigators and armchair ghost hunters alike. But what stands out most about Brian is that he founded MGHS in 2004—long before the paranormal craze had begun. In fact, he organized MGHS the month before the TAPS show was first aired. As most of us who’ve followed the rising popularity of ghost hunting know, TAPS was the TV show that first brought ghost hunting to public awareness in a huge way.

  Brian’s wife and several family members formed the core group of MGHS at first. After Brian got his first digital voice recorder, he decided to go to Massillon Cemetery, a huge burial ground with more than twenty thousand bodies interred, a literal city of the dead. That first trip, Brian and his wife Lena walked through the beautiful grounds, which were covered with fall leaves. They began to notice what sounded like another person following them—the crunching of the leaves under an extra set of feet! The couple motioned to each other, synchronized their steps, stopped simultaneously, and sure enough, crunch, crunch followed them. Brian had brought a small camera and started walking again, then wheeled around and snapped a picture. After the film was developed, the image displayed a large mist right behind them. It was a clear day, and nothing could explain this anomaly.

  Brian could also hear a faint voice when he played back his recorder, but he couldn’t make it out. Both of these bits of evidence were intriguing, but not enough to pass muster with Brian. So he decided to go back for more. This time, his sister-in-law Chris was with him. They spent time walking around and recording. Later on, listening to the playback, a voice could clearly be heard saying, “Chris, it’s me.” They were never able to figure out who this might have been. But it was enough to drive them forward in founding MGHS, and they began to refine their skills as a paranormal investigation group.

  MGHS finally got their first haunted house case a year later after they’d gotten their website up and running. The woman who contacted them to investigate had a house that was more than one hundred and thirty years old, and it had been in her family all of those years.

  The family had many experiences in the house. One night, the woman got up for a drink of water and heard someone walking in the hallway. She thought it was her husband, but she saw no one. One day when her daughter was six, the little girl pointed to the stairs and said, “Mom, who’s that man?” The woman looked at the stairs and saw an old man with white hair and a long beard standing there. As they stared, the man disappeared before their eyes! Not long after that, the medicine cabinet door opened as she stood in front of it. The woman would also sometimes run into “somebody” in the hallway and experience a stiff shoulder bumping her back.

  MGHS investigated the house, taking readings, temperatures, and EVP recordings. While the team was in the attic, which was filled with heirlooms, all three of their flashlights went out. Brian had just put fresh batteries in each one, so he knew something was draining the energy. Upon playback of the digital recorder, an EVP of a man’s voice asks, “Who the heck is that?” Upstairs, a clear female voice was recorded saying, “They ain’t cousins,” as if in answer to the man! Could these voices be long-deceased family members recognizing that the MGHS team were strangers? It sure seemed that way. One other EVP was a female saying, “Help me.” Getting this kind of evidence on their first major investigation was heady stuff.

  Brian and another MGHS member met with the woman and her daughter, who had grown into a teenager, to give them their evidence. When Brian played the EVP of the man asking “Who the heck was that?” a huge sound came from upstairs. It felt as though a bowling ball had been dropped! All four of them sitting at the dining room table jumped—the reverberation was that loud. Brian asked the woman if her husband was home, and she said no. They all went upstairs expecting to see something big that had fallen over. It would definitely have to be big to create that amount of noise and vibration. Nothing was out of place, and no cats or people were upstairs. Nothing upstairs could’ve caused it. They all speculated that the man’s spirit heard his voice being played back and in his shock, somehow created this huge sound. It was uncanny.

  The woman’s haunting came and went, with long spells of quiet in between, and as soon as the family would almost get used to the silence, the haunting would start once again with no rhyme or reason. So MGHS has kept in touch with the family over the years. The fledgling paranormal group’s first case had proven to be a good one, and it only stoked their ghost hunting fire!

  One cold day in October, Brian and two members of his group went to a cemetery in Canton, Ohio, to try to capture some EVPs. As Brian begins each EVP session, he usually makes an announcement. “The device you see in my hand will help us pick up evidence of your existence. It will pick up your voice on tape. So please come close and speak into the device.” But it was too cold to stay very long, and on their way out, they passed by a headstone with the name Bye. As Brian passed it, he jokingly said, “bye,” and Christine who followed him also called out, “bye.” Finally, Brian’s wife, Lena, the last one out, laughed and said “bye.”

  Half frozen, they made their way home and huddled around the recorder to hear the evidence. They hadn’t recorded very long before the weather chased them away, but they listened carefully to what they had. Finally, they came to the end of their EVP session when each of them had said “bye.” First Brian, then Christine, then Lena gave the name on the tombstone beside the exit. There was a small pause, and suddenly a fourth voice answered: “bye.” The MGHS members jumped up from their chairs—four voices and only three of them were there!

  The day after hearing the extra “bye” they’d caught on tape, Brian took his totally skeptical brother-in-law out to the cemetery. Brian’s brother-in-law didn’t believe they’d really caught anything; he believed someone else there had said “bye” twice. Once at the cemetery, they walked to some old mausoleums, and Brian stuck his head in one of the broken windows. Just then, his brother-in-law coughed and Brian jumped. “You scared me,” laughed Brian.

  When they got home to play back the day’s recording, Brian’s brother-in-law sat on the sofa with arms crossed in a “prove it” stance. The recorder picked up the sound of his brother-in-law’s cough and then Brian saying that he’d scared him. Then a woman’s voice says, “Leave us!” The formerly skeptical brother-in-law made Brian play this back a dozen times, simply in awe that an invisible woman—a spirit—was there with them at that moment. This was definitely the cure for his skepticism.

  At another EVP session, Brian and a team member went to a cemetery to see what they could pick up. At another old mausoleum, the team member peered into the gap in the chained doors and asked a rhetorical question: “I wonder what’s in there?” When they got home and played the tape back, a woman’s voice is heard immediately after the question. She answers, “Nothing.”

  Sometimes it seems spirits are aware of their state. Another EVP was caught as Brian called out the name on a stone, which he sometimes did as he walked through, as a marker. A plaintive woman’s voice can be heard clearly, answering, “I’m dead.”

  The same day the woman noted her deceased state, Brian recorded another voice. Just after Brian announced out loud in his usual fashion how they could capture the spirits’ voices on tape if they would just try to speak to the investigators, a man’s voice said, “I can’t believe they’re getting us on tape.”

  Another time at a cemetery, Brian read the names of the deceased from the headstones as he passed by. When the
y listened back, after a man’s name is read, a woman’s voice says, “Give him my love.” Of course, no one knew who this might be, whether it was his wife speaking or not. But it does give one pause for thought: If his wife is there, and still needs to send him her love, where is he?

  Ghost hunters don’t always need to search the largest cemeteries to gather good evidence. Brian described an old Quaker cemetery with only twelve graves where the group asked a few questions of the residents.

  “What is your name?” was the question that got an interesting reply. Upon playback, a little boy answers, “Timmy!” He sounded happy and excited, but soon after, a woman’s voice is heard asking, “Why are you with them?” as if to show her disapproval. Perhaps Timmy was her young son and he’d run away from his mom to see what the investigators were doing. Apparently, even in the afterlife children get scolded!

  This same small cemetery was the source of another interesting EVP. One day as Brian and his group moved among the stones asking questions, a neighbor came out of her house and walked over to them. She asked them if they’d like to have some more information on the old cemetery.

  Of course, Brian was very interested, and the lady brought out a huge stack of old papers and files. In those days, record-keeping was shaky at best, and one of the articles about the old cemetery told of how it was too cold in the winter to bury the dead, as the ground was too hard—and so their bodies were kept in cellars or other places until the graves could be dug. Because of this, the dates of death were often wrong, since many bodies waited until the spring thaw before they were able to be buried. So if you died in December of one year, you may not have been buried until March of the following year. This apparently caused a mix-up of dates. That day, knowing this information proved helpful.

  According to his usual practice, Brian read off the stone as a marker, showing where the group was. The stone was broken off, so in effect, this woman buried there was nameless. All that could be read was: “was buried with her two children.” And below that, the date, 1811. On the recorder, following Brian’s announcement of her death date, a woman’s voice is clearly heard correcting him, immediately saying, “1810.” Brian also recognized this woman’s voice—it was the woman who’d scolded Timmy for going over to the ghost hunters! It seemed as though this may have been Timmy’s mother, the lady buried with her two children, of whom Timmy may have been one.

  At another cemetery, fifteen minutes into the EVP recording, a male’s voice is heard saying, “Please come over here” in a desperate tone, as if he really wanted to talk to someone. Unfortunately, EVPs are hard to check in real time, so his plea wasn’t heard until they’d gone home hours later. Brian checks in on these disembodied voices/spirits at various times during the year, and I believe he may have built a rapport with them over time.

  A reassuring spirit was caught on an EVP from Massillon Cemetery on a day when all six team members were present. Brian happened to look up and notice the groundskeepers, the custodians, and several others staring at their group as the team members made their way among the graves. Brian’s niece then made the comment, “Look, they’re staring at us.” The MGHS members smiled and waved in the direction of the curious cemetery employees, always friendly and professional in their pursuit of the paranormal. Once at home, having downloaded the audio from the day, a class A EVP was captured at that very moment. A little girl’s voice rings out in answer, saying, “They don’t mean to stare.” I bet her mother had taught her manners well, and the girl was giving the caretakers the benefit of the doubt!

  MGHS chooses to post only class A EVPs (clear and easily understandable voices) on their website, or solid class Bs (audible, but not entirely clear), and these can all be heard at www.massillonghosthunters.com.

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  It’s Still 1782

  My area of northeast Ohio has a rich history full of folklore and hauntings. Both spirits and legends come together here in Ohio’s first settlement, a town called Schoenbrunn (pronounced “Shunbrun”). The town was founded in 1772 by Christian missionaries and their Delaware Indian converts, who had embraced Christianity and the white man’s ways. This didn’t save them though—a decade later, a band of American militia massacred them all one night after finding the bloody dress of a slain settler that had been planted by a hostile (unconverted) Indian.

  The ninety-six mutilated bodies of the men, women, and children lay where they fell. After the mass murder, Indian war parties passed by Schoenbrunn hurriedly, and white men shunned it as well. The entire valley was considered haunted. First came the story of an army that camped among the ruins of the town one night, exhausted from fighting and marching. They fled in horror before dawn broke, claiming that during a thunderstorm they saw the apparition of a grotesque Indian witch leading the skeletons of the murdered victims.

  Another story came from a party of warriors returning from a raid. They stopped at Schoenbrunn for water from the spring. On their belts were the scalps and tongues of the men, women, and children they’d killed. As they leaned over to drink, they saw their victims’ faces reflected in the water. Then the dried tongues of their victims dangling from their belts began to moan and wail. The warriors fled in terror.

  The remains of the massacred victims lay strewn about the site of their demise for a long time. Eventually, all trace of the town was lost, grown over by the forest. Years later, during a survey, the bones of the victims were found again and interred in a common grave. But it wasn’t until almost a century later that a monument was built and dedicated to the victims. As if the massacre wasn’t bad enough, the disrespect to the victims’ earthly remains probably was. This has historically caused numerous hauntings elsewhere.

  Eventually, replicas of the cabins were rebuilt upon the original sites, and it became a beautiful, peaceful setting. It also became a popular tourist destination. The log cabins and vegetable gardens are laid out in an orderly fashion, but there are still a few disorderly spirits here in Schoenbrunn.

  My friend Sherri Brake, author and owner of Haunted Heartland Tours, held a ghost hunting event at Schoenbrunn Village a few summers ago, and I was excited to be a part of it. Sherri’s events give small groups the chance to investigate various venues, everything from haunted prisons to abandoned institutions. These haunted events are very popular and sell out quickly, sometimes within minutes. Patrons can wander for hours at a time and sometimes even stay overnight at certain locations. Schoenbrunn was a new venue for Sherri, and it was a chance to investigate the village by lantern and flashlight. I couldn’t wait.

  I set up a table to do readings for attendees in the main-entrance building, which also housed a museum. When I was finished with my list of readings, I walked through the village, exploring the rebuilt cabins. It was a beautiful, warm summer night with a partial moon. The lanterns cast eerie shapes and elongated our shadows on the paths that ran in front of the restored log buildings.

  I caught sight of Sherri across the wide grass concourse between the two rows of cabins and walked over to tell her I’d wrapped up for the night. I also told her I thought I’d do a little investigating myself. Sherri smiled and nodded.

  “Well, I can tell you the spirits are out tonight,” she said, shaking her head.

  Instantly curious, I asked what had happened.

  Turns out that a group of ladies stopped Sherri during the course of the evening and asked if she’d show them how to do an EVP session.

  EVP stands for electronic voice phenomena, and a session consists of a person asking a question or series of questions out loud while using a digital voice recorder, then waiting about fifteen seconds between each question so the entity has a chance to reply. After a few minutes, the person then listens to the playback to see if any disembodied voices responded to them. Many times, spirits will be heard answering on the voice recorder. Supposedly, spirit voices are below the audible range of our hearing, but
can be picked up electronically. I’ve captured many EVPs myself. A class A EVP is a clear and understandable voice, with class B being less so, and so on.

  Sherri took the ladies into what is known as the Davis cabin and they all sat on the floor, with only the weak glow from the lantern to see their surroundings. So it was a little spooky to begin with. Then Sherri explained how to wait between asking the questions to give a spirit time to answer you. Sherri first demonstrated it for the three ladies, asking, “Is there anybody in here with us?” She waited the fifteen seconds or so, then shut the recorder off and played it back. First, Sherri’s voice was heard, asking if there was anybody in there with them, and then a deep male voice answered, “Yes!” The ladies screeched, jumped up, and ran out—one of them calling back over her shoulder, “I’ve heard enough.” Of course, there were only four women in that cabin, and it was obviously a man’s spirit speaking to them. Sherri chuckled as she told me, “I never saw anyone move so fast!” Several others had also reported things happening to them that night. The spirits were definitely active!

  These curious ladies, first-time ghost hunters, were very excited to try their hand at it, but they got a bit more than they’d bargained for at Schoenbrunn.

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  6

  Baloney

  I met Darrin Troyer and his wife at another of Sherri Brake’s events, this one a haunted presentation at a library. Darrin had formed his ghost hunting group, the Amish Paranormal Society (www.amishparanormalsociety.com), not long before. Although Darrin himself isn’t Amish, his great-grandmother had been, and the group’s name was his little nod to his heritage. During the course of Sherri’s program, she introduced me to her audience as a psychic she worked with occasionally. After the event concluded, Darrin sought me out.