Paul Dale Roberts

A haunting in Illinois

June 30, 2011 |  4 comments
Image Credit: Paul Dale Roberts On May 5th, 2011 we answered a call for help from another Paranormal Team to assist a Homeowner in the Effingham, Illinois area. The claims were that footsteps were heard, sounds of whispering, black shadows and occasional poltergeist activity. The homeowner had attempted to find help through the local churches and was denied, so she finally turned to a Physic, who informed her that there was a Demon in her house and directed her to do a cleansing on her own which not only failed but seemed to cause the activity to increase. The homeowner had become so distressed by the activity that she rarely stayed in her own home unless someone spent the night with her. After a lengthy telephone interview, we made arrangements to investigate on May 7th.

We arrived at approx 1930 and sat with the client for over two hours. During this interview we found out that the client herself had a troubled background, which included molestation, numerous tragic passing’s of close friends and family but this was the first time that she had ever experienced paranormal activity. The house itself was very charming, built in approx 1945. Rumors had it that there had been 4 deaths that had occurred in the home. One young man had overdosed during a house party and collapsed in the bathroom. Afraid of police action, this person was taken to another location and left before the police were called. There was also a rumor that a husband had killed his wife and child by beating them to death and then shooting himself. There were newspaper articles that mentioned several such occurrences but no exact locations were given.

The homeowner herself was in tears when we arrived and confessed that she was scared not only for herself but her young daughter. They had closed off the daughter’s bedroom months earlier and currently, they both slept in the living room where they felt the safest. By 2200 the equipment was set up throughout the home and we began our investigation. Normal questions were asked during the EVP Session. A constant Temperature of 77 Degrees was present throughout the home. For the next hour there was zero activity in the home. At 2300 we decided that was a perfect opportunity for me to attempt a private EVP Session closed off in the child’s room. Deciding to focus on what we believed to be the dark energy in the home, my questions were geared towards the Husband who had killed his wife and child and seemed to be the one that was terrorizing the home. I asked the entity to pull my hair, push me, etc. Upon review of the recorder, there was quite a prominent male chuckle. This coincided with the motion detector going off without any movement in the room. At approximately 2330 the homeowner had to leave to take medicine to the young child's babysitter. I took that opportunity to investigate alone in the home, as it seemed that activity normally increased when women were alone in the home. Within approx 3-4 minutes the house seem to come alive. The pressure in the home seemed to flex to the point where it was causing a headache, the clocks began to tick very loudly even though the one in the living room didn’t have a second hand. The monitor that the homeowner had attached to an outside camera began generating a large amount of static (It had been acting up all evening) but the only response I got from any of the equipment was a sudden temperature drop of 7 degrees in the owner’s bedroom. There was also a faint conversation that could be heard between a male and a female, although no words could be clearly made out even through the recorders. Upon her return she came into the house visibly shaken and said she was scared for me to be in the home alone as she had been grabbed and pushed both inside the home and in the yard. Within moments she began to cry and ran to me saying she was be touched on the hand, she jumped behind me and practically attached herself to my back. In about 5 seconds I could literally feel a sheet of ice cold slip between she and I. I then called the two male investigators back in and the homeowner requested that the kitchen light be turned on. We took a break at the kitchen table and for a few minutes until she felt more comfortable and then asked her if she was up to participating in a Ghost Box Session. After a couple of minutes of white noise only, I asked if the person knew he was dead. The word "Dead" was clearly repeated. I then asked if he knew that he was terrorizing the Homeowner and her Daughter and after about two seconds, the same male voice responded "Doesn't Matter". At that time the homeowner fled the house and the session was stopped. We learned at this time that there had been numerous owners of this home over the last 15 years and most had encountered abnormalities in the home, but not to this extent. It was decided that the best course of action was to smudge the home along with the client in the form of Native American tradition. During this smudging, Investigator Norm Phipps was poked near the temple when he opened the bedroom closet. Near the end of the smudging process we clearly watched a shadow figure move across the back wall of the child’s room and exit through the outside wall. The doorways were then sealed with sea salt and all 4 corners of the property were protected during this ritual. We continued with the client interview and learned that she had been hearing numerous conversations throughout the home and at times became empathic in certain rooms. We had to use the parabolic mic to pick up even a portion of what the client was hearing. We also learned through the client that when she was a small child, her late Grandmother would test her as far as using cards to test her own physic abilities.

Many of the things that she was experiencing were completely natural. The home has the original wood plank floors which do pop and crack in odd spots when someone walks through. She also has experienced numerous electrical problems in the home, although it passed inspection approximately a year ago. We did do a walk around the home and the property offering numerous explanations for many of the noises that she considered paranormal. The location of the house and its position on the block led to what was almost a wind tunnel circling the home itself. When we attempted to have the client listen, she again assumed it was all related to the paranormal. Much shadow play was noted in the house caused by very high windows and blinds that didn’t cover the top foot or so of the windows. At times I would point out that these shadows were generally caused by headlight reflecting perfectly against different items in the home. She had been so upset by the original Psychic telling her that there had to be a demon in the home that she was very hard to convince of any natural occurrences. We kept all of the equipment running and stayed with the homeowner for several hours and the house seemed extremely quiet and the client calm. The whole house seemed to lighten. At approx 0530 we left the premise pretty much convinced that not only did the homeowner felt far more as ease but the house had a completely different feeling.

We kept in contact through phone calls and Face book messages and everything seemed much calmer over the next two days. On day 3 the homeowner contacted us again stating that the activity was back and was stronger this time. We made arrangements to go out for a second session only this time we took a local well respected Physic with us for this investigation. This visit was one week later on May15th. As an experiment we also enlisted the help of an Astral Projectionist for any insight that he could give. This Physic was given some basics of the case and wrote me on the day before the planned investigation and told me that she felt that the person who had overdosed was still there but scared and held back by the male entity that seemed to rule the home. She also stated that it seemed that possibly the Husband had killed the wife after finding their child either dead or near death due to neglect by the Mother. She was also able to completely describe the child’s bedroom along with the unusual color of the flooring. She stated that there were 3 spirits left there but luckily the child had crossed over at the time of death. She also requested that the Daughter be removed from the home and asked to draw pictures of what she saw in the home. The Daughter had originally stated that the house had a monster in it when they moved in, which was dismissed because of her age and imagination. When we arrived the Mother had three pictures that the child had drawn. One was of a Monster that was very tall with numerous eyes that could see in all directions. There was also a picture of a lady in a box and a man that didn’t want to go in the box. Very strange pictures for a near 4 year old to draw. On an even stranger note the Astral Projectionist had called to state that the only thing he could visualize was a tall Cloaked shadow person with very large eyes. This information was not shared with the client and was dismissed at the time, however the one picture that the child had drawn resembled his description fairly well. Also at one point during the night, the homeowner and myself were sitting on her bed and reviewing the digital recorder that had been left in her room when she witnessed a tall cloaked shadow approximately 7 and a half feet tall appear from behind the bedroom curtain for a fleeting moment, again very close to what had been mentioned and drawn by the daughter. I caught something out of the corner of my eye but not clearly enough to add any credit to her claim as I was focused on the recorder at that time.

Again the same equipment was set up along with a flashlight and a candle lit in order to attempt to draw these spirits to the light. The homeowner was also joined this time by a friend and her Stepfather. The investigation began with no response at all with the exception of a high electrical charge being noticed by all in the child’s room. The conversation that we attempted using the flashlight was sporadic at best along with an attempted pendulum session. The only abnormality that happen during these sessions were that I got poked twice in the center of my back when I asked to speak with the female in the house. I was also hearing a whispering from behind me, telling us to leave in an aggressive manner. At that time, I requested the males to leave the house and began provoking. A Christian deliverance was started along with a Santeria Prayer. The homeowner was also demanding that whatever was in the home should leave as this was her house now. As I walked from the kitchen towards the owners bedroom, the homeowner scream and jumped saying that something had grabbed her around the waist, as I headed towards her I suddenly felt extremely hot on my left side as if I was on fire. I again asked to speak to the female entity that was in the home, when we captured a very loud "NO" on our recorders. The burning became worse on my left inner arm and lower back. I had been carrying a bible in one hand and holy water in the other as I was cleansing the doorways of the home. The male investigators reentered the home and it was found that I had one lengthy scratch on my inner arm and as they were taking pictures a second one appeared, and they were both welted. By now they began to feel like severe cat scratches. We suggested that the homeowner call a priest that we had made contact with and was more than will to help in any way he could. We also suggested that she talk to the Psychic that attended this investigation to learn ways of tuning down her sensitivity.

In conclusion, the homeowner herself seems to be very sensitive and had been evaluated for hearing voices during her early teens, with no conclusive findings. I can assure you that at least part of the voices that she hears are very real and could be verified with our parabolic. There is definitely activity in her home. There seems to be at least one male and one female that refuse to leave. We have numerous conversations that have been recorded but are illegible, along with several that are extremely clear. Two of our investigators were absolutely touched and were attempted to be intimidated but much of her so called activity are caused by very natural occurrences. We have followed up by contacting the priest himself who did confirm that the homeowner did leave one message but he has never been able to get back in touch with her. I have contacted her on several occasions since and have encouraged her to follow our advice. I have also contacted another Paranormal group in her area that is more than willing to go back in for another opinion but to this date she has not been interested. She has recently admitted to one of our members that on occasion, when she has someone over that is a nonbeliever, she will attempt to follow these entities and provoke enough to start activity to prove her point to her friends. At this point there seems to be nothing that we can do to help her clear her home if she keeps calling these spirits back. These in no way seem to be Demonic but I truly believe that the female is the problem and it almost feels like it could be her jealousy causing the majority of real activity in the home. As far as concrete evidence in the home, two investigators had very personal experiences, several conversations were caught on the digital recorders. Several Class A EVP's were caught in the kitchen when I placed the initial recorder. I had noticed a plastic glass sitting nearby and leaned over to look and make sure there was nothing that could possibly spill onto the recorder, when you clearly hear a very loud male voice saying "Empty" and also when I say that we are beginning to record, the same voice repeats "Record" There was also one strange shadow that seemed to appear from the top of the wall in the child’s room and slowly move down in a dark cloud formation that was caught on camera. This type of shadow could not be recreated nor debunked.

At this point the homeowner actually seems to alternate between fear and curiosity. A shortened version of this report was forwarded to her and I asked if she had spoken to the Priest or if she would like me to contact the other Paranormal Group that was on standby and her only response was "can I have a copy of the flashlight experiment that we did"? I am really not sure that she wants to rid her home of these spirits or if they are still even there or active at this point. As far as we know, the Haunting in Illinois continues.[!gad]On May 5th, 2011 we answered a call for help from another Paranormal Team to assist a Homeowner in the Effingham, Illinois area. The claims were that footsteps were heard, sounds of whispering, black shadows and occasional poltergeist activity. The homeowner had attempted to find help through the local churches and was denied, so she finally turned to a Physic, who informed her that there was a Demon in her house and directed her to do a cleansing on her own which not only failed but seemed to cause the activity to increase. The homeowner had become so distressed by the activity that she rarely stayed in her own home unless someone spent the night with her. After a lengthy telephone interview, we made arrangements to investigate on May 7th.

We arrived at approx 1930 and sat with the client for over two hours. During this interview we found out that the client herself had a troubled background, which included molestation, numerous tragic passing’s of close friends and family but this was the first time that she had ever experienced paranormal activity. The house itself was very charming, built in approx 1945. Rumors had it that there had been 4 deaths that had occurred in the home. One young man had overdosed during a house party and collapsed in the bathroom. Afraid of police action, this person was taken to another location and left before the police were called. There was also a rumor that a husband had killed his wife and child by beating them to death and then shooting himself. There were newspaper articles that mentioned several such occurrences but no exact locations were given.

The homeowner herself was in tears when we arrived and confessed that she was scared not only for herself but her young daughter. They had closed off the daughter’s bedroom months earlier and currently, they both slept in the living room where they felt the safest. By 2200 the equipment was set up throughout the home and we began our investigation. Normal questions were asked during the EVP Session. A constant Temperature of 77 Degrees was present throughout the home. For the next hour there was zero activity in the home. At 2300 we decided that was a perfect opportunity for me to attempt a private EVP Session closed off in the child’s room. Deciding to focus on what we believed to be the dark energy in the home, my questions were geared towards the Husband who had killed his wife and child and seemed to be the one that was terrorizing the home. I asked the entity to pull my hair, push me, etc. Upon review of the recorder, there was quite a prominent male chuckle. This coincided with the motion detector going off without any movement in the room. At approximately 2330 the homeowner had to leave to take medicine to the young child's babysitter. I took that opportunity to investigate alone in the home, as it seemed that activity normally increased when women were alone in the home. Within approx 3-4 minutes the house seem to come alive. The pressure in the home seemed to flex to the point where it was causing a headache, the clocks began to tick very loudly even though the one in the living room didn’t have a second hand. The monitor that the homeowner had attached to an outside camera began generating a large amount of static (It had been acting up all evening) but the only response I got from any of the equipment was a sudden temperature drop of 7 degrees in the owner’s bedroom. There was also a faint conversation that could be heard between a male and a female, although no words could be clearly made out even through the recorders. Upon her return she came into the house visibly shaken and said she was scared for me to be in the home alone as she had been grabbed and pushed both inside the home and in the yard. Within moments she began to cry and ran to me saying she was be touched on the hand, she jumped behind me and practically attached herself to my back. In about 5 seconds I could literally feel a sheet of ice cold slip between she and I. I then called the two male investigators back in and the homeowner requested that the kitchen light be turned on. We took a break at the kitchen table and for a few minutes until she felt more comfortable and then asked her if she was up to participating in a Ghost Box Session. After a couple of minutes of white noise only, I asked if the person knew he was dead. The word "Dead" was clearly repeated. I then asked if he knew that he was terrorizing the Homeowner and her Daughter and after about two seconds, the same male voice responded "Doesn't Matter". At that time the homeowner fled the house and the session was stopped. We learned at this time that there had been numerous owners of this home over the last 15 years and most had encountered abnormalities in the home, but not to this extent. It was decided that the best course of action was to smudge the home along with the client in the form of Native American tradition. During this smudging, Investigator Norm Phipps was poked near the temple when he opened the bedroom closet. Near the end of the smudging process we clearly watched a shadow figure move across the back wall of the child’s room and exit through the outside wall. The doorways were then sealed with sea salt and all 4 corners of the property were protected during this ritual. We continued with the client interview and learned that she had been hearing numerous conversations throughout the home and at times became empathic in certain rooms. We had to use the parabolic mic to pick up even a portion of what the client was hearing. We also learned through the client that when she was a small child, her late Grandmother would test her as far as using cards to test her own physic abilities.

Many of the things that she was experiencing were completely natural. The home has the original wood plank floors which do pop and crack in odd spots when someone walks through. She also has experienced numerous electrical problems in the home, although it passed inspection approximately a year ago. We did do a walk around the home and the property offering numerous explanations for many of the noises that she considered paranormal. The location of the house and its position on the block led to what was almost a wind tunnel circling the home itself. When we attempted to have the client listen, she again assumed it was all related to the paranormal. Much shadow play was noted in the house caused by very high windows and blinds that didn’t cover the top foot or so of the windows. At times I would point out that these shadows were generally caused by headlight reflecting perfectly against different items in the home. She had been so upset by the original Psychic telling her that there had to be a demon in the home that she was very hard to convince of any natural occurrences. We kept all of the equipment running and stayed with the homeowner for several hours and the house seemed extremely quiet and the client calm. The whole house seemed to lighten. At approx 0530 we left the premise pretty much convinced that not only did the homeowner felt far more as ease but the house had a completely different feeling.

We kept in contact through phone calls and Face book messages and everything seemed much calmer over the next two days. On day 3 the homeowner contacted us again stating that the activity was back and was stronger this time. We made arrangements to go out for a second session only this time we took a local well respected Physic with us for this investigation. This visit was one week later on May15th. As an experiment we also enlisted the help of an Astral Projectionist for any insight that he could give. This Physic was given some basics of the case and wrote me on the day before the planned investigation and told me that she felt that the person who had overdosed was still there but scared and held back by the male entity that seemed to rule the home. She also stated that it seemed that possibly the Husband had killed the wife after finding their child either dead or near death due to neglect by the Mother. She was also able to completely describe the child’s bedroom along with the unusual color of the flooring. She stated that there were 3 spirits left there but luckily the child had crossed over at the time of death. She also requested that the Daughter be removed from the home and asked to draw pictures of what she saw in the home. The Daughter had originally stated that the house had a monster in it when they moved in, which was dismissed because of her age and imagination. When we arrived the Mother had three pictures that the child had drawn. One was of a Monster that was very tall with numerous eyes that could see in all directions. There was also a picture of a lady in a box and a man that didn’t want to go in the box. Very strange pictures for a near 4 year old to draw. On an even stranger note the Astral Projectionist had called to state that the only thing he could visualize was a tall Cloaked shadow person with very large eyes. This information was not shared with the client and was dismissed at the time, however the one picture that the child had drawn resembled his description fairly well. Also at one point during the night, the homeowner and myself were sitting on her bed and reviewing the digital recorder that had been left in her room when she witnessed a tall cloaked shadow approximately 7 and a half feet tall appear from behind the bedroom curtain for a fleeting moment, again very close to what had been mentioned and drawn by the daughter. I caught something out of the corner of my eye but not clearly enough to add any credit to her claim as I was focused on the recorder at that time.

Again the same equipment was set up along with a flashlight and a candle lit in order to attempt to draw these spirits to the light. The homeowner was also joined this time by a friend and her Stepfather. The investigation began with no response at all with the exception of a high electrical charge being noticed by all in the child’s room. The conversation that we attempted using the flashlight was sporadic at best along with an attempted pendulum session. The only abnormality that happen during these sessions were that I got poked twice in the center of my back when I asked to speak with the female in the house. I was also hearing a whispering from behind me, telling us to leave in an aggressive manner. At that time, I requested the males to leave the house and began provoking. A Christian deliverance was started along with a Santeria Prayer. The homeowner was also demanding that whatever was in the home should leave as this was her house now. As I walked from the kitchen towards the owners bedroom, the homeowner scream and jumped saying that something had grabbed her around the waist, as I headed towards her I suddenly felt extremely hot on my left side as if I was on fire. I again asked to speak to the female entity that was in the home, when we captured a very loud "NO" on our recorders. The burning became worse on my left inner arm and lower back. I had been carrying a bible in one hand and holy water in the other as I was cleansing the doorways of the home. The male investigators reentered the home and it was found that I had one lengthy scratch on my inner arm and as they were taking pictures a second one appeared, and they were both welted. By now they began to feel like severe cat scratches. We suggested that the homeowner call a priest that we had made contact with and was more than will to help in any way he could. We also suggested that she talk to the Psychic that attended this investigation to learn ways of tuning down her sensitivity.

In conclusion, the homeowner herself seems to be very sensitive and had been evaluated for hearing voices during her early teens, with no conclusive findings. I can assure you that at least part of the voices that she hears are very real and could be verified with our parabolic. There is definitely activity in her home. There seems to be at least one male and one female that refuse to leave. We have numerous conversations that have been recorded but are illegible, along with several that are extremely clear. Two of our investigators were absolutely touched and were attempted to be intimidated but much of her so called activity are caused by very natural occurrences. We have followed up by contacting the priest himself who did confirm that the homeowner did leave one message but he has never been able to get back in touch with her. I have contacted her on several occasions since and have encouraged her to follow our advice. I have also contacted another Paranormal group in her area that is more than willing to go back in for another opinion but to this date she has not been interested. She has recently admitted to one of our members that on occasion, when she has someone over that is a nonbeliever, she will attempt to follow these entities and provoke enough to start activity to prove her point to her friends. At this point there seems to be nothing that we can do to help her clear her home if she keeps calling these spirits back. These in no way seem to be Demonic but I truly believe that the female is the problem and it almost feels like it could be her jealousy causing the majority of real activity in the home. As far as concrete evidence in the home, two investigators had very personal experiences, several conversations were caught on the digital recorders. Several Class A EVP's were caught in the kitchen when I placed the initial recorder. I had noticed a plastic glass sitting nearby and leaned over to look and make sure there was nothing that could possibly spill onto the recorder, when you clearly hear a very loud male voice saying "Empty" and also when I say that we are beginning to record, the same voice repeats "Record" There was also one strange shadow that seemed to appear from the top of the wall in the child’s room and slowly move down in a dark cloud formation that was caught on camera. This type of shadow could not be recreated nor debunked.

At this point the homeowner actually seems to alternate between fear and curiosity. A shortened version of this report was forwarded to her and I asked if she had spoken to the Priest or if she would like me to contact the other Paranormal Group that was on standby and her only response was "can I have a copy of the flashlight experiment that we did"? I am really not sure that she wants to rid her home of these spirits or if they are still even there or active at this point. As far as we know, the Haunting in Illinois continues. Comments (4)

 Total Posts: 7,730,350    Topics: 322,649    Members: 202,828

 Not a member yet ? Click here to join - registration is free and only takes a moment!