Houses Of Horror VIII: House Of 100 Spirits

Excerpt from my book: Behold! Shocking True Tales of Terror…And Some Other Spooky Stuff.

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How do spirits enter our world? Are they truly earthbound as parapsychology suggests, forced to live out an eternity in a world no longer theirs? Or, can they gain access to our world through a portal of sorts? Some believe this is how the dead are able to come and go at will from the realm of the dead. In 2009, while working with the Mchenry County Paranormal Research Group, I believe I came across a home where a portal had opened. Making this seemingly innocent home in Waukegan, Illinois a true house of horror.

In December of 2009, the lead investigator of MCPRG asked me if I would be willing to go on another investigation. I happily said yes and asked Tony, what the investigation involved. Tony, recently received a phone call from a man named, “George” and according to him, his house was infested with ghosts. George, further explained that some of these entities focused much of their attention on his 87 year old mother. George, further believed one of the spirits was his father, who in life, was a very bad person.

After hearing the details, Tony had to ask George a very difficult question, was his elderly mother suffering from dementia. Dementia is quite common among people of such advanced age and hallucinations are a symptom. George, assured Tony that his mother was quite healthy and showed no signs of this debilitating illness. Tony of course took the case and a date to investigate was established.

Three days later when we arrived at the house, I was struck by the look of terror and exhaustion etched into the family’s faces. Clearly, this nice family had experienced something that was beyond the boundaries of human understanding. After setting up our gear, we immediately went to work hoping to give this family some answers.

That night, I was paired with Diana, a long time member of Tony’s group. The first room we set our focus on was the bedroom of the elderly matriarch of the family. According to family members, several different ghosts had been witnessed in this room. Due to this, we figured it was as good as any place to start.

Upon entering the room, Diana and I could tell we were not alone. The very air of the room felt thick and was charged with what could only be described as an unnatural energy. Something unseen and decidedly unfriendly was with us. Something that would soon make itself known.

Diana, placed a tape recorder and EMF meter on the bed and called out, “My name is Diana and this is Rick.”.

“Hello,” I said with a nod of my head. Diana then continued, “Is there anyone in this room with us?” Just as Diana finished her sentence, the meter began to flash wildly.

As we stood in the room we asked a series of questions, trying to have a conversation with whomever was among us. We determined it was a man, but when we asked if they were a former resident, the lights suddenly stopped. That response, or lack thereof, left us confused. If this wasn’t a former resident, why was he here? This seemed highly irregular to me, but not a complete mystery. Some haunted locations that are charged with supernatural energy can drag in outside spirits, capturing them within their walls. We were about to continue when Tony called us over the radio and said he had a special assignment for us in the basement. We looked at each other wondering what a special assignment meant. But when the boss calls, you run.

When we got to the basement, we found Tony and two other investigators standing next to a small, inky dark room. Victoria, a gifted medium who enjoyed the tech side of ghost hunting said with a grin, “You two are going to love this. Especially Diana.”

After Victoria left Tony laughed and then decided to fill us in. “Victoria and Jessica were just in this room. Victoria, sensed a strong male presence and Jessica claimed it grabbed her butt. I need the two of you to spend some time in here and see if it happens again.” We both agreed and entered the room closing the door behind us.

While standing in the darkness I asked, “So, I hear you like grabbing women’s butts. Any truth to that?” When I finished talking, Diana spoke up, “Look here pal, you some kind of a pervert or something?” I became concerned by the tone of her voice and asked, “What are you doing?” After a moment of silence she replied, “Trying to provoke a response.”

Provoking spirits is a method I neither condone or engage in. It’s crude and can cause safety issues during an investigation. After a few moments of listening to Diana become progressively aggressive, I suddenly felt a large hand smack me in the head.

“Ow, what the hell! Why did you hit me?” I demanded.

“I didn’t hit you. I swear.” She responded.

“Well, someone just hit me.” I said camly. “let’s get out of this room. Now”

Upon exiting the room we found Tony and Victoria standing outside the room. Both had concerned looks on their faces.

“We heard you yell. What happened?” Asked Tony. Before I could answer, Victoria gasped and said, “Oh my God, your head. Did someone hit you?”

“Yeah, and it burns,” I replied in exasperation. Tony, brought over a mirror and I took a long hard look at a red handprint across my forehead. I looked at it for a few moments and said with a sigh, “I need a cigarette.”

When I walked outside, I found George standing by the garage. I walked up to him and asked, “George, who is the male spirit in the basement?” George took a long drag off his cigarette and when he exhaled a feeling of raw emotion hung in the air with the thick acrid smoke.

“The ghost in the basement, I believe is my father. And as I said, he was not a good man.”

As we stood talking, George, explained that in life, his father was an abusive man. He would come home drunk and go after his mother. A few times, George, tried coming to his mother’s rescue but his father would turn his anger on him and beat him twice as bad. I felt horrible for asking him to recount his life with an abusive parent and I could tell he still carried the memory like a heavy weight around his neck. George then excused himself and walked back inside. I followed shortly thereafter. Back to work.

Years earlier when George moved his mother back into the house, she claimed to watch spirits come and go through a large bay window in the front room. This window may somehow act as a doorway between our mundane world and the realm of spirits. If this were true, there was only one way to find out.

As Diana and I approached the front room, another investigator met us in the hall and exclaimed, “Amazing, just amazing.” She went on further by saying she believed the window acted as a portal and ghosts could come and go at will. After she left, we entered the front room and could tell there was some truth to this belief.

As we stood there in the middle of the room, we noticed it was much colder than the rest of the house. And there was a feeling like static electricity in the air that made our skin crawl. I took out my tape recorder and asked, “Do you use this window as an entry point to this house?” The very second the question was out of my mouth our meters began to flash wildly. I laughed and said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

We sat on the couch for a few moments asking various questions, with our meters answering in the affirmative with each one. I walked over to the window and put my hand on it and noted that it was hot. Far too hot for the middle of January. Diana, remarked that it could be hot due to it being an active portal. I was about to ask more questions when Tony’s voice came over the radio, “Rick, Diana do you want to meet George’s mom? She’s here in the kitchen.

When we arrived in the kitchen, we found Tony, Victoria, George and his mother sitting at the table. As we conversed, I looked down the hall towards the front room and watched as a tall blond haired woman dressed in white suddenly appeared out of thin air. Whoever this mystery woman was, I watched as she took a sharp left turn into a room. The investigation was about to get more interesting.

Excitement filled me and I blurted out, “Did anyone else see that?”

“See what,” Tony inquired with a puzzled look on his face.

“The blond woman,” I responded as I grabbed Victoria and rushed towards the bedroom.

When we walked into the bedroom, I was shocked to find only two people: George’s daughter and her friend. No blond haired woman was present.

“Did a blond haired woman just walk in here?” The two girls looked at me and both shook their heads no. I could tell they were both becoming frightened thinking a ghost just walked into the room.

I was about to ask another question, when I saw a dark shadow rush past the door going in the direction of the front room. Victoria and I watched in utter astonishment as the black shadow jumped through the bay window and vanished from sight. Just then Tony walked up behind us and said, “I think it’s time to do a channeling session.” I was inclined to agree.

Moments later we gathered in the basement, Victoria sat in a chair and Tony sat up a video camera to document the proceedings. The rest of us watched silently as Victoria closed her eyes and slowly breathed. After a few moments of her breathing, she opened her eyes and said,

“He is here.”

“Can you tell us your name?” Tony asked, standing next to Victoria. Victoria looked up at Tony and said in a deep, male voice, “Why are you people in my house?”

“George’s father, I presume.” Tony said.

“Oh, did that little wimp bring you here?” The spirit asked with a pompous laugh and a sneer.

“He did,” Tony replied. “Why do you still trouble him and your wife?”

“Because I can,” Victoria spat out. ” And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Don’t bet on it” Tony replied.

When Victoria came out of the trance I gave her a glass of water, which she gulped down. I then asked if we were doing a house cleansing.

“Yeah” Tony responded, ” I think it’s best to rid this family of these spirits.”

“Oh, you think!” Victoria blurted out in the voice of the spirit.

“Are you ok?” I asked, completely surprised by the spirit’s intrusion.

“Yes” Victoria replied with a shake of her head. “That was terribly rude.” I had a feeling George’s dad didn’t care much for manners.

Cleansing a house has never really been part of my ghost hunting repertoire. In fact, I’ve always regarded it as being somewhat rude evicting a spirit from a property. I’ve always had great success in teaching people how to peacefully coexist with their ghosts by laying down boundaries. However, sometimes laying down boundaries doesn’t always work. This was one of those rare instances.

When we assembled in the front room, Tony handed us each a bundle of sage and lit them. Since this was my first house cleansing, Tony had me follow him. We walked from room to room letting the rooms fill with the pleasant smell and smoke of the sage. Tony explained that burning sage neutralizes and drives away negative energy. Tony, and other investigators swear by the practice. Unfortunately, I have yet to see any evidence that this works. I guess only time would tell.

Many days after this dramatic investigation, I analyzed the EVPs I collected that night and found something interesting. As Diana and I were in the front room talking about the portal we got one of the mysterious recordings. As I listened an eerie voice could be heard saying,” They want us to come in through the window.” Who ever “they” were is still a mystery. But it confirmed for us that an active portal was open in the house. To this day, I still wonder what came of George and his family. Did they find peace? I certainly hope so.

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