Miss Fanny's Victorian Party House, living room. - photo by Terri J. Garofalo
Alas, I always drive for those paranormal investigations that last ALL NIGHT LONG and into the NEXT DAY. Yes, I volunteered… my bad, but it was my turn to drive. But, it was well worth it – we were going to Miss Fanny’s in Wappingers Falls, NY.
Donna chose to use another directions service other than Mapquest, which has led us up a Deliverance infested mountainside, among other goose chases… Once again, we led in pursuit of rabid waterfowl. I have concluded that Donna lives in an alternate universe; therefore, any directions originating from HER plane of existence will lead us into dimensions yet unknown. Next time we plan to determine which of our teammates live in the third dimension and request directions from THERE.
We arrived fashionably late in time to capture some really cool EVPs, that is Electronic Voice Phenomena, i.e. ghost chat. We were no more than a couple of minutes into being at Miss Fanny’s and we got the first EVP. This reaffirms the necessity of turning on the voice recorders BEFORE the investigation begins. Right away I had a male voice say, “MY HOME!” It was a “class A” – meaning it was clear and loud enough to be recognizable.
Several more EVPs were picked up as we waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. Often I find ghosts will chime in during regular conversation more so than during a specified EVP session. The EVP Q&A is like an oral report in school for spirits. The spotlight is on and answers are being demanded. Of course they clam up.
Our ghostly friend did not back down for us, however. He was quite talkative during our set up. Julia Drahos, owner of Miss Fanny’s, gave us a tour. Upstairs in her bedroom, you could feel the energy. Whoever was there wanted to push us out. Jimmy from Poughkeepsie Paranormal Investigators was freaked out by the proliferation of dolls. He’s not a fan… This would prove to be fun for me later on – I made a mental note.
We ventured to the third floor attic. The room directly facing the stairs not only contained a life-sized doll of Regan from the Exorcist, it also was the hiding spot for a spirit, which holed up in the closet. You could feel the heavy energy… I was amazed at the strength of it. Ed, from Pou Para also found it potent. I did get an EVP here that said, “Hide me.”
Upon completing the tour, we elected to retreat to the living area and give the ghosts a chance to settle before heading up to Julia’s bedroom. Coffee and snacks fortified us for the event. Thanks Julia. J
IndyPara and Pou Para hit it hard. We used a ghost box initially in the bedroom. Claims of a child ghost playing with toys and the door opening up to the adjacent room were on our minds. I casually leaned against the baseboard of the bed as we began. Suddenly, it felt like an electric prod poked me in the right butt cheek! I bounced up complaining of the pain. It felt like I was pinched. I had forgotten there were reports of women being pinched in the ass… Now it was my turn! I’ve been touched and held down in my bed, but never pinched! I can see the cartoon already… Paranormal harassment!
John, the IndyPara resident psychic, held a ghost box and began to ask questions. A name came up… Isaiah. It seems this was the name of my potential pincher, though it would be tough to prove in court. I was able to confirm the name from an EVP pulled from the time of the walk-through. The bedroom remained intriguing. Later Jimmy and Ed saw a shadow of an arm pointing toward the door indicating it wanted them to leave. In fact, much of the ghost box chatter reinforced that assumption. At various times during the evening, one of us would go into that room to leave a video documentary of the evening’s events. When it was my turn, I found being in there stifling. I could hardly breathe. Needless to say, I made it short and sweet and headed for a better atmosphere.
The evening waned on as we experimented with my Etch-A-Sketch, the angel board John had brought, and various objects we tried to entice the spirits to manipulate. These guys were not budging anything… However, they did show a fondness for the K2 meters. A battery of those on the table would light up in answer to various questions.
We split our teams various ways. It became more informal with us choosing to move from room to room depending on the energy present. Whoever we found ourselves working with, were the partners of the moment. Somehow, this works so much better than strict plans. I find we have more personal experiences and results if we act intuitively.
As we clustered in Emma’s room, we saw a shadow peeking in the doorway. All of us were intently focused on the door. While I saw him coming, Ed did not. Without warning Jimmy entered the room with headlamp blazing. Ed leaped straight out of his skin and crashed down with a bang with his boots. THIS scared the rest of us who also jumped on hearing Ed’s thud. We could not debunk the shadow we so intently watched for. It probably fled when Jimmy showed up and Ed crashed.
There is one important issue with an all-night investigation… Around 2 a.m. people get silly. Closing in on the “witching hour” of insanity, I tested Jimmy’s Pediophobia (fear of dolls). I picked up a particularly freaky one in the child’s bedroom. I’ve never seen a guy bolt out of a room so fast! It was hysterical. I have decided to take on the task of helping him END his phobia by exposing Jimmy to many more of these offensive items.
The highlight of the evening came when Jimmy and Ed blew downstairs declaring the Exorcist doll had moved to the center of the room of it’s own accord. Of course we had to check this out. He followed me as I approached the attic door… I pulled the latch and as the door swung open, MISS EXORCIST WAS STARING AT ME! Fortunately, I’m not one to freak out so easily. I just said, “Oh.” Jimmy burst out laughing. It was he who moved the doll to the stairs. We awaited the next victim… Donna opened the door, screamed and backpedaled across the landing. We roared with laughter. She too is a bit Pediophobic, particularly with anything to do with the Exorcist. Jimmy did say the doll WAS moved to the center of the room, however. He demanded to know who did it. Finally, Donna owned up to the prank. So, we had dueling paybacks.
Back downstairs we settled around the dining table again. We heard a loud noise in the attic area. Again we eagerly sprang up in anticipation. The closet off the landing was wide open. A couple of items had fallen out. One of these was a heavy viewing screen for slide projection. This seemed to be a natural occurrence and not paranormal. However, the pictures on the wall were noticeably crooked. They were not like that before… And so we were left wondering if this time the ghost decided to play a practical joke.
All pranks aside we had a productive evening. We had Jeffery Packard and his fiancé shooting video for us. He plans to put together a production of our investigation. We will announce when it goes up.
Anyone who wants to partake in one of the Miss Fanny’s events won’t be disappointed. The place is gorgeous, chocked full of period items from the era, and loads of spooky stuff! The ghosts add to the ambiance. This is far from a negative haunting. The spirits wish to protect their property, but they are not malicious about it. Just beware of paranormal harassment… There’s an unseen pincher lurking in the shadows.
Here are a couple of EVPs I’ve gleaned from evidence so far. I still have a lot to sift through. It was a long night!
MF-01-MyHome – “MY HOME!” – This was taken no more than a few minutes into being there. I took out my recorder as soon as I could and this is what it captured. – Foyer.
MF-02-DidYouPhoneMe-GiveUp-TheyreHungry – “Did you phone me?… They’re hungry.” The first part is closer to the beginning. Julia is talking. The hungry part comes towards the end. – Foyer.
MF-03-ICameHomeMolly – “I came home, Molly.” Some ghost is looking for Molly… perhaps Isaiah? – Dining Room.
MF-04-MollyMollyMollyMolly – “Molly, Molly, Molly, Molly.” – Dining room
MF-05-CallHerDufus – “Call her Dufus.” – Donna gets called a dufus AGAIN! 😉 – Dining room.
MF-06-GoHome – “Go home.” Self explanitory… – Dining room.
MF-07-IWantYou-Hey-IWantYou – I want you… Hey, I want you.” – Foyer
MF-10-GetHimOutOfHere – “Get him out of here!” – Foyer
MF-11-Mother – “Mother.” – Foyer
MF-15-IsaiahIsThatOneTheOne-Yes – “Isaiah, that’s the one?” – “Yes.” Seems to be a question and response by 2 spirits. Apparently we DO have an Isaiah on the premises. This was in the child’s bedroom.
MF-18-HideMe – “Hide me.” This was in that closet in the attic bedroom.
MF-19-ISenseTheDarkness -“I sense the darkness.” I want to clarify this is not one of our investigators… I’m not sure. – Attic bedroom.
MF-20-ILiveDownHere – “I live down here.” This was in the foyer.
MF-22-IAlmostFlewATTHEM – “I almost FLEW AT THEM!” – Foyer
MF-23-WontYouHelpMe – “Won’t you help me?” – Foyer
Hope you enjoyed the account. My team IndyPara is about to launch it’s website. I’ll post the link as soon as it is up!
Enjoy!
Tj
