Chapter Fifteen
The Hunting Lesson
Just then, Brenda’s car comes into view.
As she parks and walks towards the trunk, Matthew calls out to her.
“Don’t bother! Somebody locked the house.”
Brenda smiles and continues to the back of the car.
She takes out a black equipment bag, then lifts a digital camera and snaps a picture of the group with the old mill house behind them.
Everyone looks miserable.
Brenda walks towards them and raises one hand.
A set of keys dangles from her fingers.
“Don’t worry. I have the keys for the entire property.”
Their disappointment immediately turns to surprise.
Jessica stares at the keys.
“Where did you get those?”
“There are certain rules you need to learn about ghost hunting,” Brenda says. “And the first one is simple: always get permission from the owner or the proper authorities before entering a location.”
She climbs the steps, sets down her bag and unlocks the door.
Before going inside, she glances at Jacob. The smile on his face and excitement in his eyes are impossible to miss.
“No more old man, Jacob?”
“Nope.” His grin widens. “And now I’m ready to see some new ghosts.”
“That’s good. I’m glad you were able to deal with him.”
Brenda picks up her bag and enters the house.
The moment she is inside, she stops.
Her eyes sweep over the main floor.
Then she opens the equipment bag, removes a small black meter and switches it on.
As she slowly scans the air around her, the last of the group enters.
Matthew reaches for the front door.
“Leave it open for a moment,” Brenda tells him.
He freezes.
“You don’t waste any time starting the investigation. Why do you want the door open?”
Brenda finishes checking the immediate area.
“Okay. You can close it now.”
Matthew shuts the door.
William watches the meter in Brenda’s hand.
“What are you checking for?”
Her expression becomes serious.
“Safety first. I’m testing for carbon monoxide.”
The excitement in the room drops immediately.
“Carbon monoxide reduces the amount of oxygen your body can use,” Brenda explains. “Exposure can cause headaches, confusion and, in serious cases, altered thinking or perception. If people are reporting strange experiences in a building, I want to rule out a dangerous environmental cause before I start looking for anything paranormal.”
She walks through the main floor, continuing to check the meter.
The group follows, suddenly much more aware of the old building around them.
William finally asks what everyone is thinking.
“Would there really be carbon monoxide in a house that’s been empty for more than ten years? Even if there used to be gas service, wouldn’t it have been shut off?”
“Probably,” Brenda says as she checks near the cellar doorway. “But I don’t like probably when safety is involved. The property has had different heating and lighting systems over the years, so I check anyway.”
She looks at the meter one last time.
“The good news is that we’re clear.”
Everyone relaxes.
Brenda returns the detector to her bag.
Then she begins laying out the rest of her equipment: a digital voice recorder, a video camera with an infrared setting, a digital camera, an EMF meter and a digital thermometer.
The group stares at the collection.
Brenda hands the EMF meter to William.
“I want you to monitor electromagnetic-field readings for us. Turn it on here and watch for sudden changes. If you get a noticeable spike, tell me. Then we’ll look for ordinary sources before deciding it means anything unusual.”
William takes the meter with obvious excitement.
He has watched investigators use devices like this on television, but he has never held one himself.
“What if I accidentally break it?”
Brenda smiles.
“Then I’ll replace it. It’s a tool, William, not a sacred object.”
He laughs, but holds it a little more carefully anyway.
Brenda picks up the video camera and gives it to Matthew.
“I want you using this today. If you hear something in a dark room, press this button. It switches the camera to infrared mode so you can see more without relying entirely on a flashlight.”
Matthew examines it.
“Cool.”
He hands his own camcorder to Jacob.
Jacob looks just as excited. He has never been responsible for video during an investigation.
Brenda keeps her digital camera and voice recorder, then gives the thermometer to Sarah.
“If you think you feel a sudden cold or warm area, point this at a nearby surface and take a reading. Then compare it with another surface close by. If there’s a significant difference, tell us. We’ll document the area with photographs and video and see whether there’s an ordinary explanation.”
Brenda looks around at all seven of them.
“Everyone ready for a thorough investigation?”
The answer comes almost in unison.
“Yes.”
Before they begin, Jessica steps closer to Brenda.
“Miss Waters—I mean, Brenda—I had another dream about this place. It started exactly like the first one, except this time I didn’t wake up when Mr. Johnson asked where the gold was.”
Brenda immediately becomes interested.
“So what happened? Do you think you know where the gold was hidden?”
Jessica lowers her voice.
“That’s the thing. I don’t think there’s a hidden stash anymore. In the dream, Mrs. Johnson told Mr. Johnson she hid the coins in the woodpile beside the kitchen stove. He moved the wood, found the sacks and took them outside to the building where he melted metal. He was going to turn the coins into bars.”
Brenda appears almost relieved.
“Well, at least that’s one mystery we may not need to chase today.”
Then she addresses everyone.
“I know you normally split into smaller groups, but today we’re staying together. This is going to be as much a lesson as an investigation. We’ll watch how each other works, and after we search each floor, we can talk about anything we could have done differently.
“Since most of your reported activity happened on the second floor, I want to start higher up and work our way down towards the main floor. Everyone okay with that?”
Nobody objects.
In fact, they are pleased. Each of them had wondered who would get to investigate beside Brenda and learn from her. Staying together means no one misses anything.
Brenda switches on her voice recorder and starts up the stairs.
Then she suddenly stops.
Everyone behind her freezes and tries to see what caught her attention.
She turns around.
“Is all your equipment turned on?”
The group exchanges embarrassed looks.
A chorus of switches and electronic beeps follows.
“Yes,” they answer.
Brenda smiles and continues upstairs.
At the second-floor landing, she moves several feet into the hallway and waits for everyone to gather.
Then she turns towards Jessica.
“You seem to have the strongest connection with this place. I’d like you to conduct an EVP session here.”
Jessica is pleased that Brenda takes her connection to the old mill seriously.
She prepares the recorder.
Brenda raises a hand towards the others.
“Everybody stay still and quiet.”
She speaks into her own recorder.
“EVP session. Second-floor landing.”
Jessica begins.
“Is anyone here with us?”
She waits.
“Can you tell us your name?”
Another pause.
“If anyone is in this hallway with us, can you give us a sign?”
Silence.
“We’re not here to harm you. We only want to speak with you. Please respond.”
She waits again.
“Can you make a noise? Maybe tap on the wall or close a door so we know you’re here?”
Brenda motions for her to stop.
She rewinds her recorder, plugs in a pair of earphones and listens to the short session.
Everyone watches her face.
After a moment, she removes the earphones.
“Nothing obvious. I’ll listen more carefully when I get home.”
Alexis looks surprised.
“You check it right away?”
“Sometimes,” Brenda says. “If there seems to be a response early in a session, I want to know while we’re still standing in the same place. Then we can ask follow-up questions. If I don’t hear anything obvious, we move on and review the entire recording later.”
The group continues down the hallway.
A door suddenly closes in a room only a short distance ahead.
Everyone stops.
Brenda points towards Matthew and William.
“You two go first. Matthew, switch the camera to infrared before you enter.”
Matthew presses the button.
William watches the EMF meter as they approach the dark room.
Matthew enters first, slowly panning the camera across the walls and furniture.
William follows close behind.
The glow from the camera’s screen gives him enough light to see the meter.
As they move towards a closet, its door gives a faint creak.
Both boys stop.
They look at each other.
Then at the closet.
William’s heart begins beating faster.
He reaches towards the handle.
The EMF meter moves.
“Spike.”
The others immediately enter the room, cameras ready.
William grips the closet handle and pulls.
Nothing.
He tries again.
The door refuses to move.
“It’s locked.”
Matthew looks at him.
“Locked?”
“Yeah. I can’t open it.”
William checks the rest of the room. There is no other door that could have made the sound they heard.
Brenda steps forward and shines her flashlight on the lock.
“It uses an old skeleton key. I don’t have one of those. The keys the city gave me are only for the newer locks they installed to secure the property.”
She asks the girls to review their photographs.
“Nothing on mine,” Jessica says.
Alexis studies the screen of her camera.
“What’s this?”
She points to a bright spot and hands the camera to Brenda.
Brenda examines it.
“Most likely dust. We’ll keep the picture and look at it later.”
The locked closet remains unexplained, but there is nothing more they can do with it.
Brenda tells everyone to continue towards the attic.
Matthew stays behind for a few seconds, reviewing the infrared footage in slow motion.
William walks over.
“Anything?”
“I don’t think so. Everything looks normal, but I’ve never used one of these before.”
They hurry to catch the others.
At the attic entrance, everyone stops.
The folding stairs have been pushed back into the ceiling.
“They were down the last time we were here,” Samantha says.
“That’s probably because the city has been through since then,” Brenda explains. “The property is inspected regularly. If they found things out of place, they would have secured everything again. This is a historic property, so they don’t want people wandering through it.”
She looks around the house.
“Many of the objects here originally belonged to the Johnson family. The Andersons cared a great deal about the property’s history, and when they moved in, they stored a number of the older Johnson belongings rather than throwing them away. The city eventually returned many of those items to the house.”
Jessica looks surprised.
“I never found that in my research. How do you know so much about the property?”
“The Andersons had no living relatives, so they left the property to the city. When the city began considering it as a historical site, they contacted descendants of the Johnson family in the area to see whether anyone objected. My family was among those contacted.”
Brenda pauses.
“Speaking of your research, Dorothy came to my house last night.”
Jessica looks at her.
“She found the green notebook.”
Jessica’s eyes widen.
“What? Where?”
“In the toy box at the archives. Apparently, a child must have picked it up from the table while you were away and dropped it in with the toys.”
Jessica immediately becomes excited.
“What else did you find in it?”
“Unfortunately, you already read the most important entry. Most of the rest describes ordinary day-to-day life at the mill. Interesting from a family-history standpoint, but I didn’t find another secret about the gold.”
Jessica sighs.
“That’s too bad.”
Then she smiles.
“At least we know what happened to the notebook.”
While they have been talking, Matthew finds the pole used to lower the attic stairs.
“Ready?”
He hooks the stairs.
“Stand back.”
The folding staircase drops towards the floor with a heavy thud.
A second thud comes from above them.
Jacob jumps.
“Did you hear that?”
Jessica remains calm.
“Relax. Something probably fell because—”
THUD.
The second sound comes clearly from the attic.
Brenda moves first.
She races up the stairs, lifts the trapdoor and climbs through.
Her camera is already in her hand.
William and Matthew follow immediately.
Matthew scans the attic with the infrared camera while William watches the EMF meter.
Jessica comes up behind them, searching for anything that could have been knocked loose.
THUD.
This time the sound comes from a corner away from the group.
Everyone turns at once.
Four hands point in the same direction.
An old trunk sits against the wall.
They move towards it, cameras recording.
William steps to one side.
He motions towards the lid.
Everyone nods.
Ready.
William lifts it.
A bird explodes out of the trunk.
The entire group screams.
Downstairs, the younger members hear the shouting from above.
Already nervous, they bolt towards the front door.
In the attic, the initial shock lasts only seconds before everyone begins laughing.
Even Brenda has one hand pressed against her chest as she catches her breath.
Matthew points the infrared camera into the trunk.
“There.”
A small opening is visible near the lower corner.
They quickly piece together what probably happened. The bird somehow entered through the hole and became trapped. When the attic stairs slammed down, the noise frightened it. It tried to escape, hit the inside of the trunk and created the thudding sounds.
Brenda smiles.
“And that is exactly why we investigate before deciding something is paranormal.”
Once everyone has calmed down, she looks around.
“This might actually be a good time for another EVP session.”
Matthew raises an eyebrow.
“Because we just scared ourselves half to death?”
“In a way. Some paranormal theories suggest apparitions or spirits may draw on energy around them. Whether that’s true or not, everyone is alert right now, so let’s see what happens.”
She turns towards Jessica.
“Want to try?”
Jessica activates the recorder.
“Is anyone here with us?”
She waits.
A whisper moves through the attic.
Matthew immediately looks at William.
“Did you just hear that?”
William stares back.
“I think so.”
He turns towards the others.
“Did everybody hear something?”
Jessica nods.
Brenda’s expression changes.
“I could have sworn I heard a whisper.”
They check the attic windows.
All are intact and closed.
Brenda holds out her hand for the recorder.
Jessica gives it to her.
Brenda plugs in her earphones, rewinds the recording and presses play.
The others watch her.
Her eyes widen.
She rewinds it again.
“You have to hear this.”
William takes the earphones.
He presses play.
Jessica’s recorded voice asks:
“Is anyone here with us?”
Then comes a whispered response.
“Yes.”
William looks at Jessica and hands her the earphones.
She listens.
Then Matthew.
Matthew’s expression changes completely.
This is the first time he has heard what sounds like a direct response during an EVP session and then heard the same sound captured on the recorder.
He gives it back to Jessica.
Brenda nods towards her.
“Keep going.”
Jessica starts recording again.
“Please repeat your last answer. Is anyone here with us?”
She waits.
Nothing.
“Please tell us your name.”
Silence.
“Are you upset that we’re in your home?”
Another pause.
“My name is Jessica. These are my friends William, Matthew and Brenda. We came here to talk to you.”
She waits.
“Whoever answered my first question, would you like to give us a message?”
Nothing.
“Can you tell us what year this is?”
Still no obvious response.
Outside, the younger members are trying to calm down.
Jacob looks towards the house.
“Where are they?”
Sarah is still catching her breath.
“I don’t know. What could they have seen that made all four of them scream?”
Alexis looks towards the attic windows.
“I just hope Matt’s okay. All of them.”
Back upstairs, Jessica continues.
“Can we take a photograph of you beside the trunk in the corner?”
Brenda takes three photographs.
Nothing unusual appears on the camera screen.
Jessica continues.
“Do you want us to leave? If you do, give us a sign. Can you knock on the floor like this?”
She knocks twice.
Everyone waits.
Knock.
Knock.
Two faint sounds answer from somewhere in the attic.
William looks at the others.
“I think we have our answer.”
Matthew nods.
“Yeah. We don’t want to upset whoever’s here.”
Jessica looks towards Brenda.
Brenda gives a small nod.
Jessica speaks towards the recorder one last time.
“Okay. We’re going to leave this area. If you want to give us one final message, this is your chance.”
They wait briefly, then begin heading downstairs.
Once everyone is clear, they close the attic opening and push the folding stairs back into place.
Matthew can barely contain himself.
“That was the coolest EVP session ever.”
Brenda smiles.
“I have to admit, that was one of the better sessions I’ve been involved with in quite a while.”
William looks equally excited.
“That was incredible. If those responses really came from someone here, we may have just recorded an intelligent haunting right in our own town.”
Jessica suddenly looks around.
“Where are the others?”
Everyone stops.
Jacob, Sarah, Alexis and Samantha are nowhere in sight.
They begin calling their names.
William, Jessica and Brenda check nearby rooms while Matthew runs downstairs.
When he reaches the main floor, he sees the front door standing open.
He walks towards it.
The missing group members are outside.
Matthew turns towards the stairs.
“I found them! They’re outside!”
Then he steps through the doorway.
The moment Alexis sees him, she runs over and grabs his hand.
“What happened in there? We heard all of you scream!”
Matthew starts laughing.
“You’re not going to believe this. We heard those thuds in the attic and traced them to an old trunk. We surrounded it, and William opened the lid…”
He pauses.
Everyone stares at him.
Matthew grins.
“Relax. It was a bird.”
The others stare.
“A bird flew out of the trunk and scared the life out of us. That’s why we yelled.”
Everyone begins laughing.
The others come out of the house and join them.
When Matthew explains that the younger members heard the screaming and panicked, the laughter gets even louder.
After everyone settles down, Brenda suggests they go back inside and continue the investigation.
As they walk towards the house, Jessica tells the others about the EVP session.
Jacob’s face falls.
“You mean Mr. Skeptic gets to hear a ghost answer a question, and I miss it? That doesn’t seem fair.”
Matthew pats him on the back.
“I guess three believers together are stronger than one skeptic.”
Then he smiles.
“Don’t worry, little buddy. It’s still early. I have a feeling you might finally get to see or hear something yourself today.”