Chapter Seventeen
The New Evidence
As everyone leaves the house, Jessica looks back towards the old mill.
“Why didn’t we investigate the mill itself?”
Brenda pulls the front door closed and checks the lock.
“Because that building is much older and in worse condition than the house. With eight of us moving around inside, I wasn’t comfortable taking the risk. Remember the first rule.”
Jessica smiles.
“Safety first.”
“Exactly.”
The others are waiting beside Brenda’s car. William, Matthew and Sarah return the equipment she loaned them, and everyone thanks her for letting them use it.
Brenda looks at the seven teenagers, then at her car.
“I don’t think we’re all going to fit in there.”
William laughs.
“Don’t worry. We’re used to walking. We’re heading back to my place to review everything.”
Brenda thinks for a moment.
“Why don’t we meet at the diner around six? We can compare what we find.”
Everyone agrees. They had already warned their parents that the investigation might run late and most have money for supper.
Jacob and Samantha are especially excited. Neither has been to the diner before.
Brenda drives away, and the seven begin the walk back to town.
It is around noon, and the conversation barely stops.
Everyone has something to say about the morning—the whisper in the attic, the knocks, the locked closet, Jacob’s photograph, the strange readings and Matthew’s increasingly shaky skepticism.
Jessica eventually notices one person who is not joining in.
William walks quietly beside the group, staring at the ground.
She moves closer.
“You seem a million miles away. What’s wrong?”
William hesitates.
“Nothing, really. It’s just… after talking about what happened before my mother died, with the staircase and everything, I’ve been thinking about her a lot today.”
Jessica does not know what to say.
She has never lost someone that close to her. She has the mother who raised her and the biological mother she has always been told may return to her life one day.
Words seem inadequate.
So she reaches over and takes William’s hand.
He looks at her and manages a small smile.
“I always feel so much warmth when you touch me. You’re a very loving person.”
Jessica squeezes his hand.
“And you’re a very strong person. But being strong doesn’t mean you have to deal with everything by yourself.”
William looks back towards the ground.
“I know. Some things just aren’t that easy to talk about.”
He is thinking about more than his mother.
Brenda’s pendant still troubles him.
He is becoming increasingly convinced that he knows who Jessica’s biological mother is, but telling Jessica based only on a matching necklace feels wrong.
After a while, William changes the subject.
“So what did you think about investigating with Brenda?”
Jessica smiles.
“I thought it was great. Brenda and I really clicked during the EVP sessions. It’s strange, but I felt completely comfortable around her. I expected it to feel awkward hunting with someone new, but it almost felt like we’d done it before.”
From behind them, Matthew calls out.
“Hey, lovebirds! Want to join the rest of us?”
William and Jessica suddenly realize they are still holding hands.
They quickly let go.
William turns around and notices Matthew walking with his arm around Alexis.
“Look who’s talking. You two seem to have gotten pretty close pretty fast.”
Matthew looks at Alexis and grins.
“I figure if the only way I can experience this crazy paranormal world of yours is when I’m around Alexis, I should probably keep her close.”
Sarah and Samantha giggle.
Alexis rolls her eyes.
“At least when Matthew’s around, I’m not as nervous during investigations.”
Jessica steps in before the teasing gets any worse.
“We still have fifteen minutes before we get to William’s. Why don’t we go over everything that happened today?”
The conversation quickly returns to the investigation.
The mood feels lighter than it has during many of their previous hunts.
Before long, they reach William’s house and head straight to the recreation room.
Everyone settles into familiar positions.
Then William, Matthew and Sarah realize they have a problem.
They have nothing of their own to review.
They spent most of the investigation using Brenda’s equipment.
“I’ll work with Alexis on the digital photos,” William says immediately.
Matthew looks at him.
“Very funny. I think I’ll work with Alexis.”
William laughs.
“Fine. I’ll work with Jacob on his video. Sarah, why don’t you go through Samantha’s pictures with her?”
Sarah agrees.
Jacob and Samantha are pleased to have the older members working beside them.
William reminds everyone to make notes of anything unusual so they can compare findings when they are finished.
Then the room becomes quiet.
At Brenda’s house, she has already started reviewing her own material.
She listens to the digital recordings while watching the infrared video from the investigation.
Normally, she prefers reviewing one source at a time so she does not miss subtle sounds, but she wants to have something ready before meeting the group at the diner.
The attic recording contains the whispered “Yes” and the two knocks they heard during the session.
The infrared footage from the upstairs bedroom also shows the strange shape over the bed where Jacob took his photograph.
Most of the remaining material appears ordinary.
Back at William’s, Jessica listens carefully to her recordings.
She finds the whispered “Yes” and the two knocks.
Then she reaches the question she asked in the attic.
“Are you upset that we’re in your home?”
A faint sound follows.
Jessica plays it again.
And again.
There is definitely something there, but she cannot understand it.
She writes down the recording position and continues.
Across the room, William and Jacob review Jacob’s video.
They reach the bedroom scene and see the fog-like distortion over the bed.
Jacob smiles.
“At least I caught that if nothing else.”
William is about to agree when another sound catches his attention.
He stops the video.
“Wait.”
He rewinds several seconds.
A girl’s voice on the recording asks, “Where should we go next?”
A male voice answers.
“Out.”
William looks at Jacob.
“Listen to this.”
He plays it again.
Jacob’s eyes widen.
“You mean I caught an EVP when we weren’t even doing an EVP session?”
His excitement draws everyone’s attention.
William looks around the room.
The others are pretending not to listen.
“And the rest of you might as well come over here before you hurt yourselves trying to eavesdrop.”
Everyone gathers around.
William turns up the volume.
“Where should we go next?”
“Out.”
The answer is remarkably clear.
Alexis stares at Matthew.
“That was me asking you where we should go next. Something answered me.”
She looks back at the computer.
“I wonder how many times something responds and nobody notices.”
Matthew shrugs.
“A day ago I would’ve said none.”
He pauses.
“Now I have no idea.”
Everyone returns to their work.
Sarah and Samantha carefully compare photographs taken around the chair where Samantha captured the bright circular shape.
They find another photograph taken roughly fifteen seconds earlier.
A similar shape appears in almost the same place, but smaller.
They mark both photographs for later comparison rather than deciding immediately what caused them.
At Brenda’s house, the review is becoming tedious.
She pauses the infrared footage and recorder and heads towards the kitchen.
At first she considers making green tea.
Then she decides caffeine might be more useful and makes coffee instead.
She returns to the study, takes a sip and glances over the rim of the cup at the paused video.
Something catches her eye.
Brenda lowers the cup.
She rewinds.
Then she plays the sequence again.
Matthew enters the sitting room.
Almost immediately, a reddish-orange translucent shape crosses the screen towards the same window where the traveller appeared during the earlier investigation.
Brenda leans closer.
None of them noticed it at the time.
She writes down the timestamp.
From that point on, she reviews the video by itself.
At William’s house, Sarah and Samantha reach the photographs Sarah jokingly posed for in the sitting room.
On the third photograph, an orange haze appears behind Sarah.
The girls stop.
They continue through the series.
In the seventh photograph, the same orange colour appears again, this time farther away from Sarah. More of the translucent shape is visible.
They finish the remaining photographs and sit impatiently while everyone else continues working.
Jessica finishes her audio review and notices them waiting.
“What did you find?”
They show her.
Jessica studies both images.
The first shows the haze behind Sarah.
The second reveals a larger translucent form.
Within fifteen minutes, everyone has finished.
William asks for anything they found beyond the evidence they already noticed at the house.
Samantha speaks first.
“I think I caught something else in the sitting room. Maybe the traveller.”
William walks over to the computer.
Sarah opens both photographs.
The others gather around.
In each image, the orange haze appears to be moving in the same general direction as the traveller did in William’s original video—towards the window.
William prints both pictures to show Brenda.
While the printer is working, Alexis raises her hand.
“I think I caught it too.”
Everyone moves to her computer.
One of Alexis’s photographs shows a similar orange haze near the window, curved almost into a semicircle.
William prints that one as well.
As he collects the pages, Jessica comes over and quietly tells him about the faint voice on her recording.
William sets the photographs down.
“Let’s hear it.”
He connects Jessica’s recorder to his laptop, copies the audio and opens his editing software.
Jessica shows him the exact location.
William isolates the section and raises the volume.
Everyone gathers behind him.
Jessica’s recorded voice plays.
“Are you upset that we’re in your home?”
Then comes the faint response.
“No. Your home too.”
Nobody speaks for a moment.
The words are strange, but the response sounds clear enough to make everyone wonder what it means.
They add it to their notes.
Time has passed faster than anyone realized.
They gather their evidence and begin getting ready for the diner.
At her house, Brenda finishes reviewing the recordings and remembers that she still has her photographs.
She makes a copy of the infrared video to bring with her, then begins checking the still images.
In the first photograph—the group standing outside the house—something in an upstairs window resembles a face.
Brenda zooms in.
The shape becomes less convincing the closer she examines it.
Light and reflections can create surprisingly familiar patterns.
She prints the photograph anyway.
It will make a useful lesson.
Then she packs her portable video player, the copied recording and the photograph and leaves for the diner.
Brenda arrives several minutes before the group.
She asks the waitress to push a couple of tables together so all eight of them can sit comfortably, then orders coffee while she waits.
The diner is decorated in a 1950s theme. An old jukebox stands against one wall, vintage bicycles hang overhead and an old payphone sits in the corner.
When the group arrives, Jacob notices the phone almost immediately.
“What’s that?”
Brenda looks over.
“A payphone.”
He stares at it.
“You paid to use a phone?”
“People put money in and made their call.”
Jacob looks as though she has described an ancient ritual.
Samantha hears music playing and looks around.
“Where’s that coming from?”
Brenda points towards the jukebox.
“Think of it as a giant 1950s music player.”
The waitress brings their drinks and takes the food orders.
Most choose burgers, hot dogs or fries.
Matthew orders meatloaf.
Everyone looks at him.
Alexis laughs.
“Why don’t you order something normal?”
“It is normal. I want a real meal after spending the day hunting ghosts.”
Brenda smiles.
“I’ll have the meatloaf too.”
Once the orders are taken, the evidence comes out.
Brenda starts with the infrared footage.
She plays the sitting-room sequence.
The reddish-orange shape moves across the screen towards the window.
Everyone stares.
Then several heads slowly turn towards Matthew and Alexis.
Neither volunteers the fact that they were paying more attention to each other than to the camera screen.
Samantha remembers her photographs.
William hands Brenda the printouts.
She compares the two pictures with the video.
“These are remarkably similar.”
“There are three,” Alexis says. “The other one is mine.”
Brenda studies the third image.
Jessica tells her about the additional audio response.
“When I asked, ‘Are you upset that we’re in your home?’ we found a voice underneath it. William cleaned up the recording.”
“What does it say?”
Jessica looks around the table.
“‘No. Your home too.’”
Brenda thinks about the words.
“Interesting. I wouldn’t assume we know what it means yet, but keep the original recording. Context matters.”
Sarah explains that she and Samantha also found another photograph containing a similar circular shape near the chair.
Brenda looks at both images.
“Good. Compare everything before drawing conclusions. One picture can be misleading. A sequence can sometimes tell you more.”
Jacob proudly tells Brenda about the unexpected “Out” captured on his video.
His smile grows when she tells him that accidental recordings can be especially interesting because nobody was deliberately waiting for a response.
Then Brenda takes out the photograph she printed.
Jessica looks at it.
“That’s a nice picture of everyone.”
Matthew points towards an upstairs window.
“Wait. Is that a face?”
Immediately, everyone starts speculating.
Brenda lets them talk for a moment.
Then she smiles.
“This is why I brought the photograph.”
They quiet down.
“Human brains are extremely good at finding familiar patterns, especially faces. Sometimes we see a face in random shapes, shadows or reflections because our brains are trying to make sense of what we’re looking at.”
William studies the picture.
“So you don’t think that’s somebody in the window?”
“I think it’s light reflecting from the glass.”
“Then why show us?”
“To remind you that seeing something unusual isn’t the same as proving what caused it.”
She glances towards Matthew.
“And notice who spotted the face first.”
Everyone laughs.
Matthew shakes his head.
“Great. The skeptic gets fooled by the fake ghost.”
“Exactly,” Brenda says. “Skepticism doesn’t make you immune to mistakes. Neither does belief. That’s why you examine the evidence.”
The waitress arrives with their meals, and the photographs and equipment are moved aside.
For a while, ghost hunting gives way to burgers, fries, meatloaf and conversation.
After they finish eating, they spend another half hour discussing the investigation.
Around eight o’clock, Brenda announces that she is heading home.
Everyone agrees it is probably time to call it a day. They have been going almost nonstop since morning.
Brenda walks to the counter and asks the waitress to put all eight meals on one bill.
She pays, leaves a tip and returns to the table.
“The bill’s taken care of.”
Several of them protest.
“You didn’t have to do that,” William says.
“I know.”
Brenda smiles.
“But I wanted to. Today has been one of the most interesting days I’ve had since moving back here. So thank you for letting me spend it with you.”
The group thanks her for the investigation—and for supper.
After Brenda leaves, the seven decide to head home as well.
They walk together, separating one by one as they reach their streets.
William’s house is the last stop.
By the time he gets inside, it is around nine.
He puts on some music, stretches out on the sofa and finally allows himself to relax.
For the first time all day, the house is quiet.