Somerset
Thursday May 24, 2007
Investigators present: Ryan, Tom
Length of visit: 2hours
Ryan and Tom were uncharacteristically late. When conducting an investigation, the team has an arrival window of 15 minutes before/after the agreed upon time. This keeps disruptions to a minimum in the early stages of a visit. Colin, our newest Investigation Team member (as of this writing), had shown up 5 minutes prior to our 18:30 start and had waited in his vehicle outside the residence for the rest of the team. When Tom and Ryan did not show by 18:55, Colin figured the investigation had been cancelled and went home. The CAPI Handbook, our investigators manual, is considered a 'living document' (items can change as we learn more) and does not have every minor protocol listed. Because of this, Colin did not know that he could have gone to the door, introduced himself, and then waited inside. As Executive Director, Tom has taken full responsibility for the misunderstanding and will correct this situation with ensuing updates to the manual. Sorry Colin.
The remainder of the team arrived at 19:00. We were greeted by the homeowners and apologised for showing up late. They did not mind, as they have two small children and were glad to have a bit of 'alone time' before our arrival. Also, they understood that finding their home in this relatively new neighbourhood was difficult.
We began our visit by going over our questionnaire. The homeowners asked, when signing our Release of Information and Evidence form, that no photos be posted on the CAPI website. We agreed, letting them know that our Privacy Policy was in accordance with Provincial and Federal Privacy Legislation, and that no personal information would ever be released, including items they asked us not to post/discuss. We then continued with the questionnaire.
Since moving into their very lovely home in late 2005, our clients have had some unusual experiences they could not explain - heavy footsteps in the main floor hallway, the patio doors unlocking by themselves, an electric kettle turning itself on, house keys found in a door they do not use, and visitors hearing activity during the night. Most of the reported activity has been witnessed by the wife. The husband felt, at first, that it may have been her imagination compounded by sleep deprivation (did we mention they have two small children?). However, when he first experienced the activity, he could no longer ignore what his wife had claimed. They had never noticed any paranormal-type activity in previous homes.
We began the investigation on the second floor, in the oldest child's bedroom. The homeowners told us that they buy items from garage sales all the time, including the two cribs for their children. One of these cribs was in this bedroom. Tom used his compass to attempt to detect any minor electromagnetic fluctuations connected to the crib. For the second time at a CAPI investigation, Tom was able to record a significant fluctuation from a bed - a 25 degree variation from the mattress in the crib. The other crib, also a garage sale item, in the master bedroom has the exact same mattress but had no electromagnetic fluctuations. Both cribs are made of wood.
The master bedroom has a safe feeling to it, like it is a sanctuary for the homeowners from the world. Both Ryan and Tom noticed this 'feeling'. Most of the reported activity in the home seemed to happen on the main floor, with one or two events on the second floor landing and oldest child's bedroom. Interestingly, with the exception of one or two, the only photos we had any anomalies on came from the master bedroom. No other anomalous data was collected on the second floor.
We moved to the main floor and Tom found another compass anomaly. The front hall and kitchen have linoleum floors, while the living areas are carpeted. Going between these two flooring types, Tom found another 25 - 30 degree variation. As a reminder, compass variations in open areas over 20 degrees pique our interest because they show an unusual discrepancy in the electromagnetic field. You can replicate this kind of thing by moving a compass close to a large metal object like a stove. When we find this kind of fluctuation, especially in a transition from linoleum to carpet, we begin to wonder why. Perhaps there was something in the basement, some metal near these transition points, which could explain the anomalous readings. We headed to the basement.
We found, as we entered the basement, that there was nothing in the wooden floor joists near the transition points above. In fact, with the expected exception of the metal in the furnace creating a fluctuation, the basement revealed nothing to us. The homeowners said they did not get any unusual feelings in the basement, but their cat often runs wildly up the stairs and away from the basement.
We sat down with the homeowners to discuss our initial findings. We asked them to keep track of any activity as best they could, documenting what they hear, see and feel, as well as taking photos during times of activity. Of course we realized that with two small children this would be difficult, but our clients seemed enthusiastic. Like many of our clients, they were concerned we would think their experiences were only in their minds...that they were 'crazy'. As we tell all our clients, we do not make judgements - we document reported activity and collect on-site data. If we find activity during our visit, this helps confirm the client's information. If we do not find activity, we do not dismiss their claims. Instead we tell them that we did not find anything during our visit, our investigations are simply snapshots of a location. This snapshot gave us interesting data to sift through.
