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INPR Investigation
| Case# |
Type |
Date |
Location |
|
20090624BOW
|
Residential |
June
24, 2009 |
Attica,
Michigan |
| Author: Kim
Daugherty |
| Claims: |
| A few of the more
notable claims made by the homeowners are as
follows; objects move on their own in the living
room, family pets stare at the ceiling in the
bathroom and growl when nothing can be seen by the
homeowners. A previous occupant of the home told
the Bowersons of an incident in which she was
sleeping in an upstairs bedroom and awoke to find
a man standing in the doorway looking at her.
Rodney Bowerson was relaxing in bed one night and
witnessed the door to the bedroom close on its
own. He decided to conduct an experiment and asked
any entity to open the door at which time the door
opened on its own. He has also seen the reflection
of a female figure on the television screen and
has heard footsteps walking in front of the same
television. Rodney also experienced an incident in
which he was working in the attic and had some
tools move from where he placed them and reappear
in a different location in the attic. Mary, along
with a friend and relative, have on three separate
occasions experienced a force holding them down in
bed. During one particular night, she also heard
voices in the empty spare bedroom. Mary claims to
feel like she is being watched while in the
cemetery. The first sign of activity occurred
approximately four years after the homeowners
moved in. |
| Background
History: |
The Buckingham
School House first opened in the 1800’s. In the
early 1900’s, a fire consumed the school house.
Sometime between 1923 and 1926, the school was
rebuilt using donated wood from a local saw mill
owned by the Buckingham family which is how the
school acquired its name. The school was, at some
point, converted into a home and in1996 Rodney and
Mary Bowerson bought the home and immediately
moved in.
The homeowners claim that a Civil War battle took
place on the property and also on the land across
the street from the property. They did not provide
any information to back up this claim.
The Roscoe Cemetery is located only several yards
away from the school house. The cemetery was
incorporated in 1887 however, there is a head
stone in the cemetery that is dated 1874. The
cemetery is inactive with the most recent legible
death date being 1890. |
| Geographical
Significance: |
This
location is located in a flat secluded region of
Western Michigan. It is approximately forty miles
from Lake Huron and seventy miles from Lake Erie.
There are no major waterways near the location.
The cemetery is located on the brow of a hill that
tops over 1,000 feet. The house is down from this
hill at approximately 955 feet. |
| Moon
Condition: |
| Waning Gibbous,
97% of full |
| Solar
Conditions: |
Solar –
Terrestrial Data
2009 Aug 07, 1506 UTC
Solar Flux: 67
A-Index: 12
K-Index: 1 / 9nT
X-Ray: LT A1.0
SunSpots: 0
Calculated Conditions
Band Day Night
80m-40m : Fair Good
30m-20m : Poor Good
17m-15m : Poor Poor
12m-10m : Poor Poor |
| Weather
Conditions: |
Outdoor
Temperature 61.9F 12:20:07 AM - Min.
74.5F 9:33:05 AM - Max.
Indoor Temperature 73.1F 1:19:07 AM - Min.
75.9F 9:33:05 AM - Max.
Outdoor Humidity 53.0% 9:33:05 AM - Min.
80.0% 2:21:07 AM - Max.
Indoor Humidity 52.0% 11:47:07 PM - Min.
55.0% 9:40:07 PM - Max.
Due Point 54.9F 11:23:03 PM - Min.
58.1F 9:38:11 PM - Max.
Pressure 291.1in. 9:33:05AM - Min.
291.7in. 12:52:05AM - Max.
Gust Speed 0.0kts 11:20:04 PM - Min.
5.8kts 9:47:06 PM - Max.
Direction 0.0 11:01:05 PM - Min.
315.0 11:59:05 PM - Max. |
| Investigation: |
Upon arrival to
the Bowerson home, one would most likely find
themselves captivated by its sight. Although the
bell is missing and the original steps are hidden
under a deck, it still holds the characteristics
of the original school house. The property is
beautiful. Stately pines and other enormous trees
surround the premises along with whimsical
plantings along the front of the home. Across the
street is a scenic expanse of rolling hills that
stretch clear to the horizon. The team was
informed this area served as a battlefield in the
Civil War. To the side of the property is a quaint
little woodland which contains an old cemetery
with graves dating back to the Civil War days. The
entire property and all of its historical charm
would leave any visitor feeling as if they have
stepped back into time. Due to the owner’s,
Rodney and Mary Bowerson, paranormal claims, the
old Buckingham School House left the team excited
for an investigation into it’s potentially
haunted grounds.
The team arrived at the property at approximately
7:15 pm and started the evening with a tour of the
property beginning in the cemetery. Where most
cemeteries are somewhat symmetrical with rows upon
rows of grave stones, this cemetery is a lovely
stand of trees with paths leading to groups of
graves tucked into their own little peaceful
corners. It is because of Mary’s hard work that
these paths exist as she has spent hours clearing
away branches and debris and restoring the
gravestones. Upon entering the cemetery, Mary
pointed to a group of stones and told how they
belonged to a husband, his wife and a brother. A
little further up the path is a group of stones
belonging to a man and his two daughters who died
at a very young age. The paths continued to twist
and turn and lead to many other small groups of
graves, each belonging to a different family. Some
of the stones were in such bad shape that it was
impossible to read who they belonged to. One
particular group of graves was merely marked by a
circular grouping of small round rocks and a
broken square header. Mary explained that it was
near this group of graves that she felt a strong
presence of something or someone watching her
while clearing away debris. Perhaps it was a
spirit happy to have its final resting place
rediscovered and cared for. Perhaps this spirit
has a story to tell. The team left the cemetery
hoping that any spirit there would be willing to
share his or her story during that night’s
investigation.
A walk through of the home followed. Mary led the
team through each room starting with the living
room and kitchen. She told of the spirit of the
little boy that they believed frequented the
living room and adjacent hallway. Mary provided
the team with two matchbox cars, one being one of
the original cars supposedly played with by the
spirit boy. A team member placed the two cars on
the coffee table using coins to hold them in
place. The plan was to check the cars at the end
of the evening to see if they had been disturbed.
Down the hall was the office in which Mary claimed
to have smelled a floral odor, a spare room, the
home’s only bathroom and, at the very back of
the house, a mud room. The mud room is an addition
made to the original structure. The door to the
mudroom is the original back door of the school
house and the original siding remains on the
interior wall of the mud room.
Upstairs, Mary walked the team through a second
living room in which Rodney had his experience of
seeing a figure in the television and hearing
footsteps. The team also walked through the master
bedroom and spare bedroom. A couple of the team
members experimented with the door to the master
bedroom in an attempt to find any natural causes
for the door to open and shut on its own. No such
causes were found. A couple of team members also
checked out the stairs to the attic to decide if a
venture into the attic would be possible during
the investigation. The door to the attic is
located on the ceiling between the master and
spare bedrooms.
During the walkthrough, a team member did a
thorough EMF sweep of the entire home. The
downstairs hallway had a high range of anywhere
between 3.6mG and 13.7 mG (milliGaus) along one of
the walls. It was discovered that a light in the
spare bedroom, opposite the same wall, was the
cause of the high EMF range. The rest of the home
had normal EMF ranges. A carbon monoxide detector
located in the upstairs living room read 120ppm
(parts per million).
The team decided to set up home base in the
kitchen. A camera was placed in the upstairs
living room facing the entire living room,
including the doors to both bedrooms. A camera was
placed directly inside the entrance of the
cemetery facing directly down the path leading
towards the back of the cemetery. The weather
station was placed in the front yard. The group
was divided into two teams with Kurt, Kim and Mary
being on team one and Jason, Cindy and Rodney on
team two. The investigation began at approximately
11:00 pm.
The investigation of the downstairs of the home
included additional EMF readings, EVP sessions and
experiments with the Ghost Meter. Kurt also used
his hand held camera to record team one’s entire
investigation. There was one questionable EVP
captured in the office, but upon review, the team
could not make out what it said. Also, in the
office, Mary felt a cold chill near her back. Kurt
took a temperature reading and it was at normal
room temperature. Mary also said she smelled a
floral odor, but neither Kurt nor Kim smelled it.
An unsuccessful attempt at communication with any
entity was made in each room with the Ghost meter.
No anomalies appeared in any of the photographs
taken nor were there any anomalies captured on
video. All EMF ranges remained normal.
The same investigative approach was used in the
upstairs of the home, which yielded no evidence.
Team two did have an incident where they heard a
scratching sound while in the attic. There were
bats in the attic, all of which were asleep. The
team found no natural cause for the scratching
noise and the noise was not captured on audio.
Both teams found the investigation of the cemetery
to be livelier than that of the home. Many
potential EVPs and several questionable noises
were captured on audio however, due to traffic on
the road next to the property and the natural
sounds of nature, the EVPs were too difficult to
establish and can not be used as evidence. Team
two had an incident where they heard what sounded
like a rock hitting a tree and then falling to the
ground. No explanation for this noise was found.
Both teams reported hearing and chasing sounds
only to be lead nowhere. Every member of the team
reported hearing strange noises that were realized
to be that of horses in a field on the south side
of the cemetery.
The investigation ended at approximately 2:30 am.
All of the equipment was gathered and put away and
it was during this time that one of the team
members remembered to check the matchbox cars to
see if they had been moved at all. They had not.
Due to the distance from home and the late hour,
the team decided to stay the night on the
property. Cindy, who roomed in the upstairs spare
bedroom, claimed that at one point during the
night, she heard mumbling and scratching noises
coming from another area of the home. An attempt
was made to find the source of the noises but none
was found. |
| Summary: |
| Upon the
completion of evidence review, the team has
concluded that it can not deem the property to be
haunted due to the lack of conclusive scientific
evidence. However, the team agrees that the
Buckingham School house proved to be a very
interesting and intriguing place to investigate.
Rodney and Mary Bowerson were very gracious hosts
and the investigation was considered an overall
success due to a complete and organized
performance conducted by the team. |
| An Interesting
Note: |
In a conversation
held between Cindy and the Bowersons at a later
date, it was learned that it was impossible that
horses could have been heard during the
investigation because the neighbors had stabled
the horses that night. Upon learning of this, Kurt
assured the team that he even saw what looked like
the shapes of two horses on the south perimeter of
the cemetery and can be heard saying so on audio.
So, what did the team hear that night? What did
Kurt see?
Is it possible that the team witnessed the spirits
of some Civil War battle horses? |
| Equipment
Used: |
- (2) Remote IR Cameras: 1
– (20’range indoor) and 1 – (300’
range indoor coolpodz)
- (3) Ghost Meters 0-5 mG
- Digital EMF Meter 0-200
mG
- (4) Ear buds for Cobra
microTalk radio
- (4) micrTalk Radios
- Olympus V-100 digital
voice recorder
- Olympus VN-4100 PC
digital voice recorder
- Olympus WS-311M digital
voice recorder
- Olympus VN-3100 digital
voice recorder
- Sony 8.1 megapixil
cyber-shot dsc-w150 camera
- Sony 7.2 megapixil
cyber-shot digital camera
- Sanyo VPC-E870 8
megapixel digital camera
- Sony ic recorder
icd-px720
- Sony TRV-480 digital 8
camcorder with night vision
- Sony HVL-IRM IR camcorder
light
- Sony digital camcorder
with night vision and extra 9 led IR light
source
- IR temperature gun
- Garmin Nuvi 265WT GPS
portable
- Zephyr PWS-1000TD /
Professional Weather Station
- Dell Vostro 1000 AMD
Turion 64 x2 TL-58 1.90GHz with 2Gb Ram
- Dell Inspiron 1501 AMD
Turion 64 x2 TL-60 2.00GHz with 2Gb Ram
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