RPS Investigations
Investigations - 2010
Private Residence- Reading, PA- January 22, 2010- Case #1 of 2010
Conditions- clear night, temperature in the high 20's, light winds, first quarter moon phase, 43% of full
Investigators- Team 1- Mike Snyder and Paul Laplante
Team 2- Shawn Maurer and Scott Henry
Equipment Used: (1) digital camcorders with infrared extender attached; (3) digital cameras; (1) infrared thermometer; (2) digital voice recorders; (1) K2 EMF meter; (1) battery-activated motion sensor
Time of Investigation- Arrived at 8:30 p.m.; Walkthrough for all members of the group except Mike who did the initial walkthrough on Wednesday, January 20, 2010. The investigation began around 9:15 p.m. and ended around 2:15 a.m.
History: The residence investigated has been owned by the current residents for about the past 4-5 years. The house was previously owned by the same family for over 60 years. As far as the current residents know, the house was built in the early 1920's. When the elderly gentleman who owned the house died, the widow decided she could not keep such a big house for herself and decided to move into a nursing home. The son of the couple decided to sell the house to the best bidder, though it needed a lot of work. The house was sold reasonably cheap, due to the extremities of work needed to be completed, to the residents who currently reside there now. From talking with the current residents, the son who sold them the house, who was only in his mid-to-late 60's, had just died unexpectedly of heart problems in December 2009; however, the widow is still alive and in her 90's.
Reports of Paranormal Activity- Mike received a call from one of the residents on January 15, 2010 after his roommate said, that a few days beforehand, he had seen a full-body apparition at the top of the staircase going to the second floor of the house. The roommate had been sleeping on the couch downstairs with his head resting away from the stairs so he could see straight up the staircase from his position. The roommate claimed he has just woken up and was just sort of lying there, when at the top of the stairs he saw a full figure; however, he explained that he could see right through it. He described it to look more like the shape of a man; however, he could not really see any other features. He looked away for a second, maybe thinking that he was imagining things or going crazy, and when he looked back, nothing was there anymore. The roommate explained he was home by himself, except for their two dogs. The thing that makes this claim a bit more credible is that at the top of the stairs directly lies a bedroom about 3 feet from the landing of the last stair. This is the master bedroom of the couple who lived there previously, before the elderly gentleman died. Did the stairs have something to do with his death, or could this apparition have been a residual motion that the man re-enacts over and over again in the house, but this was the first time it was ever caught by the two? The current homeowners do not know how the elderly man died.
Seeing this apparition was enough for the current homeowners to give RPS a call; however, they started to describe a few more things that have happened at the house in the past few years. For years, the two have been putting money into the house to try to rebuild its value, but it seems like every dollar they put into it, more things begin to go wrong. That may have nothing to do with the paranormal and the elderly man that still might live there; however, things just seem to break all the time. Items sometimes get moved all over the house as well, and two roommates always say it wasn't them. The two dogs look up sometimes for no reason and especiallly look up towards the stairs where one of the roommates saw what he deemed a full body apparition. One encounter was described very vividly. One of the roommates was sitting at the computer in the living room, while the other was sleeping in the bedroom where the elderly man had died. At the top of the stares, they have installed a safety gate so the dogs don't run a muck around the house, and can only stay on the lower floor. The roommate on the computer heard the gate latch move like it was being opened, and was expecting his roommate to descend down the steps in a matter of seconds. That did not happen. At the same time, the roommate sleeping in the elderly man's former bedroom heard the same unlatching noise from the gate and expected his roommate to hear his roommate walking up stairs to go to the bathroom or something of the such. However, that did not happen either. At the time, the two did not discuss this occurrence. Only weeks later did they collaborate on what happened that night and they were both baffled.
Findings During the Investigation- Findings were disappointing at best. Early in the night, Team 1 was receiving a few solid K2 hits in the basement. Team 1 tried to bring out the spirit of the elderly man by luring him with one of his past activities, smoking cigarettes. With the K2 meter sitting on a cement floor, Team 1 was receiving some hits that ranged from the second green LED light to the third LED, which is a yellow. The yellow light ranges in the area of where a paranormal force may be present between 2.5-7 MiliGauss. At one point, the yellow LED held for over a minute until it slowly faded away. Some of the recorder evidence from the time in the basement needed to be dismissed immediately due to noisy neighbors. However, RPS tagged the recorder the best they could as they heard noises coming from next door. While Team 2 was downstairs they heard what sounded like something banging into a chair in the kitchen, and anohter noise. When they went upstairs to follow the noise, they could not tell if a chair had been moved; however, on inspection of Shawn's equipment case that was sitting on top of the kitchen counter, Shawn say that one of the latches had been unlatched. Shawn seemed fairly convinced that he had latched both latches; however, he was not completely sure. At one point of the night, both teams thought they were experiencing some major activity, but it seemed that their equipment tainted that experience. Team 2 was in the basement and Team 1 was in the second floor bedroom where the elderly man died. Shawn had just transmitted something to Mike on the walkie-talkie when unexpectedly, the motion light flashed on that was on the top of the steps on the second floor and the K2 meter spiked up to red, the highest reading, for about a quarter of a second. Immediately, Mike and Paul got back on the walkie and told Shawn and Scott what happened. As they conversation persisted through the walkie-talkies, the motion light turned on another 2-3 times. At the time, RPS thought that they had really stumbled upon some big evidence that something paranormal did exist in this private residence. However, during RPS's break time, a discovery was made. The radio frequencies between the walkies' transmissions were interrupting the air of both the motion sensor and K2 meter. This did not happen during every transmission; however, it did happen on most occurrences. This was a big letdown for RPS, but it had also been a first. Never before had RPS run into a case of the sort, at least not to their knowledge. The same walkie-talkies, K2, and model of motion sensor had been used on previous investigations and no other disruptions had been documented. So, basically, any evidence from this investigation that involved the motion light being tripped or the K2 meter hitting extreme marks had to be thrown away, due to the fact that RPS is unclear on why this happened, but it can definitely not be deemed paranormal.
After the radio frequency argument was put to rest, the teams were a bit disappointed, and nothing happened or seemed to happen in the next two hours of the investigation, except for the motion light shining a bright shade of blue when most walkie-talkie transmissions ended. The team wrapped up their investigation around 2 a.m.
Data Analysis and Findings- RPS has not sat down together as a team to discuss any EVP, photo, or video evidence found through the night of the investigation. More will be posted as soon as it is available.
The Reveal: A reveal will be set up as soon as all evidence is reviewed.
Private Residence- Reading, PA- January 22, 2010- Case #1 of 2010
Conditions- clear night, temperature in the high 20's, light winds, first quarter moon phase, 43% of full
Investigators- Team 1- Mike Snyder and Paul Laplante
Team 2- Shawn Maurer and Scott Henry
Equipment Used: (1) digital camcorders with infrared extender attached; (3) digital cameras; (1) infrared thermometer; (2) digital voice recorders; (1) K2 EMF meter; (1) battery-activated motion sensor
Time of Investigation- Arrived at 8:30 p.m.; Walkthrough for all members of the group except Mike who did the initial walkthrough on Wednesday, January 20, 2010. The investigation began around 9:15 p.m. and ended around 2:15 a.m.
History: The residence investigated has been owned by the current residents for about the past 4-5 years. The house was previously owned by the same family for over 60 years. As far as the current residents know, the house was built in the early 1920's. When the elderly gentleman who owned the house died, the widow decided she could not keep such a big house for herself and decided to move into a nursing home. The son of the couple decided to sell the house to the best bidder, though it needed a lot of work. The house was sold reasonably cheap, due to the extremities of work needed to be completed, to the residents who currently reside there now. From talking with the current residents, the son who sold them the house, who was only in his mid-to-late 60's, had just died unexpectedly of heart problems in December 2009; however, the widow is still alive and in her 90's.
Reports of Paranormal Activity- Mike received a call from one of the residents on January 15, 2010 after his roommate said, that a few days beforehand, he had seen a full-body apparition at the top of the staircase going to the second floor of the house. The roommate had been sleeping on the couch downstairs with his head resting away from the stairs so he could see straight up the staircase from his position. The roommate claimed he has just woken up and was just sort of lying there, when at the top of the stairs he saw a full figure; however, he explained that he could see right through it. He described it to look more like the shape of a man; however, he could not really see any other features. He looked away for a second, maybe thinking that he was imagining things or going crazy, and when he looked back, nothing was there anymore. The roommate explained he was home by himself, except for their two dogs. The thing that makes this claim a bit more credible is that at the top of the stairs directly lies a bedroom about 3 feet from the landing of the last stair. This is the master bedroom of the couple who lived there previously, before the elderly gentleman died. Did the stairs have something to do with his death, or could this apparition have been a residual motion that the man re-enacts over and over again in the house, but this was the first time it was ever caught by the two? The current homeowners do not know how the elderly man died.
Seeing this apparition was enough for the current homeowners to give RPS a call; however, they started to describe a few more things that have happened at the house in the past few years. For years, the two have been putting money into the house to try to rebuild its value, but it seems like every dollar they put into it, more things begin to go wrong. That may have nothing to do with the paranormal and the elderly man that still might live there; however, things just seem to break all the time. Items sometimes get moved all over the house as well, and two roommates always say it wasn't them. The two dogs look up sometimes for no reason and especiallly look up towards the stairs where one of the roommates saw what he deemed a full body apparition. One encounter was described very vividly. One of the roommates was sitting at the computer in the living room, while the other was sleeping in the bedroom where the elderly man had died. At the top of the stares, they have installed a safety gate so the dogs don't run a muck around the house, and can only stay on the lower floor. The roommate on the computer heard the gate latch move like it was being opened, and was expecting his roommate to descend down the steps in a matter of seconds. That did not happen. At the same time, the roommate sleeping in the elderly man's former bedroom heard the same unlatching noise from the gate and expected his roommate to hear his roommate walking up stairs to go to the bathroom or something of the such. However, that did not happen either. At the time, the two did not discuss this occurrence. Only weeks later did they collaborate on what happened that night and they were both baffled.
Findings During the Investigation- Findings were disappointing at best. Early in the night, Team 1 was receiving a few solid K2 hits in the basement. Team 1 tried to bring out the spirit of the elderly man by luring him with one of his past activities, smoking cigarettes. With the K2 meter sitting on a cement floor, Team 1 was receiving some hits that ranged from the second green LED light to the third LED, which is a yellow. The yellow light ranges in the area of where a paranormal force may be present between 2.5-7 MiliGauss. At one point, the yellow LED held for over a minute until it slowly faded away. Some of the recorder evidence from the time in the basement needed to be dismissed immediately due to noisy neighbors. However, RPS tagged the recorder the best they could as they heard noises coming from next door. While Team 2 was downstairs they heard what sounded like something banging into a chair in the kitchen, and anohter noise. When they went upstairs to follow the noise, they could not tell if a chair had been moved; however, on inspection of Shawn's equipment case that was sitting on top of the kitchen counter, Shawn say that one of the latches had been unlatched. Shawn seemed fairly convinced that he had latched both latches; however, he was not completely sure. At one point of the night, both teams thought they were experiencing some major activity, but it seemed that their equipment tainted that experience. Team 2 was in the basement and Team 1 was in the second floor bedroom where the elderly man died. Shawn had just transmitted something to Mike on the walkie-talkie when unexpectedly, the motion light flashed on that was on the top of the steps on the second floor and the K2 meter spiked up to red, the highest reading, for about a quarter of a second. Immediately, Mike and Paul got back on the walkie and told Shawn and Scott what happened. As they conversation persisted through the walkie-talkies, the motion light turned on another 2-3 times. At the time, RPS thought that they had really stumbled upon some big evidence that something paranormal did exist in this private residence. However, during RPS's break time, a discovery was made. The radio frequencies between the walkies' transmissions were interrupting the air of both the motion sensor and K2 meter. This did not happen during every transmission; however, it did happen on most occurrences. This was a big letdown for RPS, but it had also been a first. Never before had RPS run into a case of the sort, at least not to their knowledge. The same walkie-talkies, K2, and model of motion sensor had been used on previous investigations and no other disruptions had been documented. So, basically, any evidence from this investigation that involved the motion light being tripped or the K2 meter hitting extreme marks had to be thrown away, due to the fact that RPS is unclear on why this happened, but it can definitely not be deemed paranormal.
After the radio frequency argument was put to rest, the teams were a bit disappointed, and nothing happened or seemed to happen in the next two hours of the investigation, except for the motion light shining a bright shade of blue when most walkie-talkie transmissions ended. The team wrapped up their investigation around 2 a.m.
Data Analysis and Findings- RPS has not sat down together as a team to discuss any EVP, photo, or video evidence found through the night of the investigation. More will be posted as soon as it is available.
The Reveal: A reveal will be set up as soon as all evidence is reviewed.
Upcoming Investigations-
Private Residence in Womelsdorf- Date to Be Announced
Revisit of Cumru Township Private Residence- Date to Be Announced
Three Historical Structures in Amity Township, Berks County- Date To Be Announced
Revisit of Shartlesville Hotel- Date to Be Announced
Private Residence in Womelsdorf- Date to Be Announced
Revisit of Cumru Township Private Residence- Date to Be Announced
Three Historical Structures in Amity Township, Berks County- Date To Be Announced
Revisit of Shartlesville Hotel- Date to Be Announced
Gilbert's Furniture Showroom- Reading, PA- February 12, 2010- Case #2 of 2010
Conditions- clear night, temperature in the low 20's, 10 mph winds; last quarter moon phase, nearing new moon, about 2% of full
Investigators- Team 1- Mike Snyder, Shawn Maurer, Scott Henry, and Rich Fox, Jr.
Team 2- Rich Fox, Sr., Jay Livinghouse, Paul Laplante, Julie Bennis, and Samantha (high school reporter)
Equipment Used- (3) digital camcorders all with NightShot, and one with a infrared light extender; (7) digital cameras; (5) digital voice recorders, all of which that were used in both live and static situations throughout the night; (2) CellSensor EMF meters; (1) K2 EMF meter; (1) infrared thermometer
Time of Investigation- The majority of the team arrived around 8 p.m. when the store was closing; inital walkthrough was completed earlier that day by Mike, Shawn, and Scott; the rest of RPS was shown around the floors and were made aware of the 'hot spots'; equipment was set up and checked for battery life; groups were established throughout the building; the investigation began at 9 p.m., and lasted until around 3:15 - 3:30 a.m.
History- Gilbert's Furniture Showroom, and in fact all of the buildings in the historical district of Penn Street, have a long and glorious history. It wasn't long ago when Reading use to be a city that people from all over would venture to for shopping and entertainment purposes. With such a long past, there is no wonder that there may be some spirits left behind. Denton Buckley, Sr. is the owner of the furniture showroom situated on the corner of 3rd and Penn in downtown Reading. Mr. Buckley moved Gilbert's to this location in 1985 after buying the property from Elmer Resnick, who was the owner of the Brighter Furniture Company. The name of Elmer will come to play a little bit later in this article. The Brighter Furniture Company had owned the property since at least the 1930's. RPS found this out after receiving a newspaper article from Denton Buckley, Jr. which showed that a fire had taken place in the building in 1939, which was called one of the biggest Penn Street fires ever recorded. The majority of the building was almost immediately razed and rebuilt. Arson was believed to be a main cause of the fire.
Before the Brighter Company occupied the building, evidence shows that the Worley Hardware Company occupied the building, but the dates of this establishment's opening and closing have not been revealed to RPS. Worley's specialized in wholesale and retail sales of seeds, hardware, builder's supplies, stoves, furnaces, house furnishings, and was a distributor of many kinds of Dupont heavy chemicals at the time.
Investigators- Team 1- Mike Snyder, Shawn Maurer, Scott Henry, and Rich Fox, Jr.
Team 2- Rich Fox, Sr., Jay Livinghouse, Paul Laplante, Julie Bennis, and Samantha (high school reporter)
Equipment Used- (3) digital camcorders all with NightShot, and one with a infrared light extender; (7) digital cameras; (5) digital voice recorders, all of which that were used in both live and static situations throughout the night; (2) CellSensor EMF meters; (1) K2 EMF meter; (1) infrared thermometer
Time of Investigation- The majority of the team arrived around 8 p.m. when the store was closing; inital walkthrough was completed earlier that day by Mike, Shawn, and Scott; the rest of RPS was shown around the floors and were made aware of the 'hot spots'; equipment was set up and checked for battery life; groups were established throughout the building; the investigation began at 9 p.m., and lasted until around 3:15 - 3:30 a.m.
History- Gilbert's Furniture Showroom, and in fact all of the buildings in the historical district of Penn Street, have a long and glorious history. It wasn't long ago when Reading use to be a city that people from all over would venture to for shopping and entertainment purposes. With such a long past, there is no wonder that there may be some spirits left behind. Denton Buckley, Sr. is the owner of the furniture showroom situated on the corner of 3rd and Penn in downtown Reading. Mr. Buckley moved Gilbert's to this location in 1985 after buying the property from Elmer Resnick, who was the owner of the Brighter Furniture Company. The name of Elmer will come to play a little bit later in this article. The Brighter Furniture Company had owned the property since at least the 1930's. RPS found this out after receiving a newspaper article from Denton Buckley, Jr. which showed that a fire had taken place in the building in 1939, which was called one of the biggest Penn Street fires ever recorded. The majority of the building was almost immediately razed and rebuilt. Arson was believed to be a main cause of the fire.
Before the Brighter Company occupied the building, evidence shows that the Worley Hardware Company occupied the building, but the dates of this establishment's opening and closing have not been revealed to RPS. Worley's specialized in wholesale and retail sales of seeds, hardware, builder's supplies, stoves, furnaces, house furnishings, and was a distributor of many kinds of Dupont heavy chemicals at the time.