THIS WEEK I LOVED: Ghost Huntin’ in Massachusetts
I’d like to start off by saying: This is most certainly the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Since I first made contact with the Central Maine Ghost Hunters in May (or well, they made contact with me to be fair) I was beyond intrigued. The initial conversation was about their new app – Voodoo (link for more info here: https://m.facebook.com/Voodoo-APP-102810705327818/) because I do a feature on the morning show where I review an App of the Day. I obviously jumped at the opportunity because 1. LOCAL and 2. UH GHOSTS, YES.
Of course I had to shoot my shot and see what the CMGH were getting up to… and somehow I managed to get an invite on their next ghost hunting trip. Score.
I’ve always been a massive fan of anything paranormal, but especially have been fascinated with any paranormal reality tv shows you’ll catch on Travel Channel, Discovery, etc. The tools they use to make contact, the procedures, the experiences – it’s all right up my alley. Getting invited to join these paranormal investigators was pretty much a lifelong dream come true.
The location for my FIRST ever ghost hunt? The Oliver House in Middleborough, Massachusetts.
Saying that this house has a ~past~ is an understatement. In short: the house was completed in 1769 and given as a wedding gift to Dr. Peter Oliver & his wife Sally Hutchinson. In the years before the American Revolution – Oliver & his family were branded as loyalists and the home was confiscated by the Sons of Liberty. That was only the beginning of this property’s tale. More info on the house here: http://www.discovermiddleborough.com/discover/oliver-estate and also here: https://www.facebook.com/OliverHouseMA/
Volunteers & visitors alike have seen, heard, and felt the presences in Oliver House. Ghost hunters much like the CMGH have been flocking there for years to capture evidence of the paranormal.
After doing a bit of research my boyfriend Anthony & I were ready to open ourselves up to the Oliver House. The date came quickly and we made our way south to Middleborough, not entirely sure what to expect but excited nonetheless.
THE LOCATION
On our initial arrival I was struck by just how beautiful the grounds were.
Also there are a ton of wild rabbits running around which I also found to be pretty delightful. So far, so good.
We arrived a bit early and had started to photograph the house when Christy Parrish, the Event Coordinator & Ghost Tour Manager, came out to greet us. Side note: I instantly liked this woman. She gave us a tour of the grounds as well as the full history of hauntings & happenings and WOW. I could tell from the moment I met her that she had an undying passion for the Oliver House and the people (and animals – a ghost dog AND cat!) who still resided there. I feel so grateful to have been able to hang out with her a little bit before the hunting began because she is just full of information and we loved hearing all of her stories.
After getting the history & touring Oliver House, the Central Maine Ghost Hunters were ready to do their thing. Let me give you the 411 on these awesome paranormal investigators.
THE TEAM
The Central Maine Ghost Hunters were founded by Dustin Marcia in 2012. The members are Dustin, Jamie, Cassidy, Heather, Mike, & John. Throughout the night I would find that each member of this team has something different to contribute. Dustin is clearly the leader – his energy is extremely grounding even in moments where you might feel a little scared. Jamie’s energy is 100% comforting and soothing, like a cozy fire. Cassidy & Heather are total powerhouses that motivate the rest of the group with their high-vibration energy. Mike totally embodies the excitement and youthful energy that one might feel during a childhood Ouija board session. John is the much-needed comic relief in between being completely serious about the task at hand. I loved spending time with them. More info on CMGH right here: (20+) Central Maine Ghost Hunters | Facebook
THE TOOLS
If you’re a fan of any paranormal investigation shows or movies, some of these items will be very familiar to you. I kind of assumed I might be taking the passenger seat when it came to using these and gathering evidence – but no! The team said I would be able to use these items. I was overwhelmed. What if I broke them?! They had all the real deals: an Sb7 Spirit Box, an EMF Detector, an Infrared Night Vision Camera, a Digital Recorder, and the Necrophonic app (link to the app in the Play store here: Necrophonic – Apps on Google Play).
I don’t want to spoil the upcoming episode (later this week! I’ll update this page with a link) from Central Maine Ghost Hunters BUT… let’s just say I had quite a bit of luck making contact with the Spirit Box and I’ve now downloaded the Necrophonic app to my phone.
OUR NIGHT
After selecting our tools, we split up into two separate groups – guys & girls. I said goodbye to my man and went off with Jamie, Heather, & Cassidy to explore upstairs while the boys headed out to the grounds and spooky woods.
There are multiple rooms upstairs in the Oliver House, but I was drawn to the closet in what used to be Sally Hutchinson’s bedroom. Apparently a volunteer stumbled upon a female apparition in this closet, and I was intrigued.
Something that began to happen as soon as we got upstairs was the batteries of our various tools straight-up dying. These were tools that had been plugged in and freshened with new batteries before we started our investigation. The theory is that spirits can drain batteries and kill tech which is pretty inconvenient. I guess ghosts don’t care if we’re inconvenienced – at least we’re still among the living.
While I sat by Sally’s closet I could feel a definite change in temperature, but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and jump to conclusions. It could have just been a draft.
Next we went into the “male” bedroom. This room had a distinct energy as soon as we entered. All of us got the feeling that someone definitely did not want us there. I began feeling very anxious and almost angry- like a certain feeling of disdain had filled my body. Whatever was in that room did not want four women snooping around, that was for sure.
After another battery or two was drained we decided to go downstairs to recharge and to check out another “male” space – the room where only men were allowed back in the day. This was a room to conduct business, smoke cigars, and sip scotch. This was also a room where females were not permitted. We decided to give the Spirit Box a try here. A group of pants-wearing, unchaperoned women clearly caused a stir with the male entities here. I won’t spoil it, but this was where I got my first chance to use the Spirit Box to communicate. We kept catching a very deep male voice- which Christy had told us earlier belonged to a spirit called Earle.
This room was the first place in the house where I felt a definite, palpable shift in temperature & energy. I also started to feel very dizzy as we communicated with this “Earle” and had to take some deep breaths to recenter myself. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I can’t wait to see the footage from this moment.
(Another reminder: check back at the end of the week for footage from the CMGH’s Oliver House episode!)
You know in the horror movie when a character needs to investigate some mysterious sound in the basement and you’re like “NO! Don’t go in the basement!”? Yeah, we went down to the basement.
Definitely a creepy, old basement in any case. When I walked down the stairs I instantly felt a very heavy, very sad energy. There was also a feeling of being watched from afar. When we went into one corner, it seemed that something would move into the opposite corner to watch us. The shadows moved around strangely as if something was lurking about. A small female voice kept coming thru on the Spirit Box while we were there, but it seemed whatever spirit was trying to communicate with us was afraid.
After spending a decent amount of time in the basement our group made our way upstairs, where the boys had returned from their adventure outside. We then decided to go out into the woods as a big group to finish off the night.
Anthony & I had the opportunity to check the trail out & get photos before darkness fell, and I was glad. The pitch black that consumed our group in the woods is difficult to describe and even more difficult to capture with a phone camera. I felt suffocated and honestly was worried about ticks. This is when the Necrophonic App came out to play. Here’s an explanation of the app from the app store itself:
“Necrophonic is an ITC app used for spirit communication and EVP research. The audio has been mastered in a way to bring out various sound properties. Using Pro Tools I was able to enhance high, mid, and low range frequencies. I also applied other filters to create unique sound characteristics to help layer the audio and create an environment suitable for spirit communication.The audio itself is made up of phonemes, partial words, reverse audio, foreign languages, and other parts of speech that can help spirits communicate. Besides some basic phonetic sounds such as na, no, da, do, di, ma, may, etc. there are no real words of phrases contained in the banks.” (Necrophonic – Apps on Google Play)
The science behind it is really interesting. I actually ended up downloading this app for my phone after experiencing what it can do.
As much as I love scary movies and barely bat an eye over any sorts of scares – there were a couple times out in the woods that I nearly jumped out of my skin. One fun moment was when we got an answer from the Necrophonic App and it frightened me so much that I practically jumped on top of Jamie (because she’s so comforting, as I said before!). I can’t wait for you to see the footage. It’s wild.
As I said previously, you have GOT to see the Oliver House episode from Central Maine Ghost Hunters. I wanted to update everyone early on my ghost hunting trip here while every detail was still fresh in my brain, but I’ll update this blog post with all the footage once it’s available.
In the meantime, check out the Central Maine Ghost Hunters page here: (20+) Central Maine Ghost Hunters | Facebook for a few live videos taken that night (you’ll recognize my voice!) and all of their other awesome episodes. Check back at the end of the week for a link to the FULL episode, right here.
As always: I’m down to hear suggestions for what I should try out next! Hit me up via email courtney@1019por.com or shoot me a DM on my instagram page here: Courtney Ross (@justcourtneyblog) • Instagram photos and videos.
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