The Orchard House sits on the north-west edge of town. At first glance, you will see a stately two-story, wood framed house. As you get closer, you’ll probably notice the signs of wear and wonder about its origins. Closer still, you just might feel as though you’re being watched.
The Orchard House was built in 1860 and was renovated by Jane Owen decades ago to be used as a guest house for the New Harmony Inn. The building has four lavish bedrooms and ample space for entertainment, which makes it perfect for wedding parties. While most guests have nothing but a positive experience, others have experienced something unnatural while staying there.
“That place is haunted,” one guest of my Haunted New Harmony Ghost Walks told me, which piqued my interest, but didn’t surprise me. By my estimation, most old homes in New Harmony have a ghost or two in residence. We decided to rent the building and see for ourselves. By the time the sun broke the horizon the following morning, we were convinced of the haunting. Not only had we received intelligent responses on our Spirit Box, we also heard strange sounds throughout the night. Was it footsteps or just the sound of an old house settling? Sometimes it’s difficult to determine, but other times it’s clearly evident. As I slept in a room on the main floor, I heard the distinct sounds of footsteps come into the room. They walked all the way to the side of my bed and stopped in front of me as though taking the opportunity to get a good look at me while I slept. Even though I’m supposed to be a fearless ghost hunter, there are times when it takes me a moment to gather my courage. When I finally opened my eyes, nothing was there. I finally fell back asleep and learned that several of my friends had similar experiences.
Years later, when we started our new Dark Side Ghost Walk, we added the Orchard House to the tour. By this time, we’d gathered quite a few new stories from other guests. One guest came in and saw a man wearing overalls standing at the top of the staircase. As they stood there staring, he faded into nothing right in front of them. Others felt touches or heard sounds they couldn’t explain. During our very first Dark Side Ghost Walk, one of our guests stopped me after we’d passed by the house, telling me he saw a brown haired woman with a light blue dress staring out a window.
I approached the New Harmony Inn and asked them if they would allow me to rent the building for a public paranormal investigation and was astounded when they gave me the green light. I think on some level, they also wanted to see what we discovered.
Even though we’d already experienced warm weather, the night of the event was cool and chilly. Our guests showed up and we divided into four teams and then split up and investigated the house.
Living Room
First Session – Orange Group
Jason Nelson led a group in the living room, which was a hotspot in our past investigation. He used two different Spirit Boxes, one is a modified radio with reverberation built in and the other was our standard SB-7 Spirit Box. The theory behind the Spirit Box is that it scans the radio channels quickly, only landing on each one for an eight of a second. The ghosts are able to speak through the white noise. We use it frequently because of the amazing results we often get with it.
Three minutes into the session, they got their first hit. Jason had everyone introduce themselves and then asked if they could share their names. A male with an Australian accent said what sounds like, “George.” When I first listened to it, I though he was saying Jason, but changed my mind. Either way, it was interesting.
Immediately afterwards, a voice came through and said, “Watch it!” And then someone said, “Lincoln.” This is interesting because the house is decorated in Civil War motif. One room is actually named the Lincoln/Lee Room.
As Jason was marveling over the amount of responses they were getting, a male voice asked him, “You good?”
One of the guests asked if they lived there and a faint female voice said, “No.”
Someone asked if he followed someone there and a voice said, “Sam.” As far as I know, there wasn’t anyone named Sam at the event, so he must have followed someone else at an earlier time.
And then, still within the first five minutes of the session, a voice said, “Release them.” I’m not sure who or what he was referring to, but he had a bit of a British accent.
During the session, someone felt like something was touching the back of her neck. She moved to another spot. She thought she heard her name come over the Spirit Box, but upon review, it wasn’t anything I could make out.
A motion sensor cat ball kept lighting up on its own throughout the session.
Several other people showed up late and Jason had them introduce themselves. Right after that, someone asked if they were from New Harmony and there were several responses that sounded like “Yup.”
Someone asked, “What’s your name?” A voice responded with “Greg.”
“Do you like all the travelers who come through here?” A voice responded with “Yes.”
They got a lot of blips and blurps, but no clear responses for the remainder of the session.
Second Session – Blue Group
It didn’t take long for them to get their first hit. Five minutes into the session, one of the men in the group asked if they lived in the house and a female told him, “We see.”
Some of the responses were difficult to understand and could have been nothing more than radio stations popping in. When someone asked if their family was here, you can hear a quick, “Yup.” Quite a few answers came in similarly. When they finally got a hit, it was faint. “How old are you?” someone asked. A female immediately responded with, “Six.”
Jason switched to the SB-7 Spirit Box after they went several minutes without getting any clear responses. Unfortunately, it wasn’t even picking up radio station blurbs. It was nothing but static. The lack of responses came shortly after Jason began sending people outside for a breakout group with a pendulum. I have to wonder if the ghosts were following the guests outside. This would make a lot of sense. It’s the reason why we have breakout groups. Ghosts often feel more comfortable with small groups and are more willing to communicate.
Finally, after a few minutes, they finally got a response. One woman asked what year they were married and a male with a Midwestern accent said, “We’re gonna go east.”
Third Session – Yellow Group
They began asking questions, asking if the little girl from the second floor followed them downstairs. When asked if she played in this room, they got the sound of a little girl’s voice. Her voice is very faint and probably can only be heard if you’re wearing headphones.
Rachel asked what their favorite color was and a male voice said, “Color?” Then, a female voice exclaimed, “Pink!”
Ben Adams walked in with his SLS Camera. This camera is based on Kinect X-Box technology. It maps people and ghosts as stick figures on his screen. He picked up on a child-sized stick figure. Later in the evening, his system crashed and he lost all the video he recorded, so we have nothing to show you, unfortunately.
They didn’t get any other responses, so Jason switched to the SB-7 Spirit Box to see if they could get anything with it. Within seconds, they got a hit. He asked if there was anyone there who wanted to talk to them and a voice asked, “What are you doing?” It’s very faint, so you’ll need to listen closely or with headphones.
They were commenting on how quiet the Spirit Box was. Normally, you’ll at least hear occasional radio stations pop in, but it was just solid static. Then, a male voice said, “We’ve all been with Traci.” It makes a lot of sense. If there are limited ghosts in the house, they might be hanging out in other areas, especially with Traci who was doing the Estes Method. Her sessions were quite active. This is another very faint one.
Rachel and Eric came in from their breakout session and Rachel and Lisa took their place. They wondered if the child followed them outside. They were getting a lot of hits on the pendulum. She told them she went to school in New Harmony and played in the house. She said they didn’t like us all in the house asking them questions.
They heard something come through the Spirit Box and decided it was just a song on the radio, but then a male voice came through and said, “It’s me.” It too was a faint response.
Fourth Session – Red Group
They went around and introduced themselves and were off and running. Jason asked if anyone wanted to talk to them and a male voice asked, “You there?”
The very next question garnered a response, as well. A guest asked if there was a male with them and a man yelled, “Hey!” with great enthusiasm. This is another one that sounds different after I uploaded it to Soundcloud. Now, I hear, “Hello!” What do you hear?
Someone asked if this was his favorite room and he properly insulted her. “Idiot!” he said.
And then, we got the best EVP of the night. One of our guests asked if there was a little girl with us and a little girl responded with, “Mommy.” It was so clear and absolutely spine chilling.
The little girl wasn’t finished with them though. One guests thought it was a little boy they’d been talking to at their last session. She asked, “Is this Max?” and the same little girl responded with, “Maddie.” Then, a gruff sounding male asked, “You give up?” like he was scolding her for responding.
It was strange because after that, you could hear a child’s voice in the background. I couldn’t understand what she was saying. It was more like a cry.
Jason decided to switch things up and moved to the SB-7 Spirit Box. They ran it for a few minutes, but it was clear we’d worn the ghosts out. They turned it off and spent the rest of the session talking.
Breakout Sessions
On one of the breakout sessions, they were talking to a man. They couldn’t nail down the era, but the man knew about baseball and football. He was standing behind the woman and his wife had dark hair. They said they were there after the Harmonists.
Another group felt they were talking to a little girl. She said she lived there and her parents were there.
Master Bedroom
First Session – Yellow Group
Whistling Rick led a dowsing rod session in the master bedroom. After he demonstrated how to use the rods, he turned them over to the guests to use. In the meantime, he sent small groups out to the stairwell to do a pendulum session. We’ve discovered that the ghosts are more apt to approach smaller groups. By sending two people to another location by themselves, they often receive interaction.
- They weren’t talking to the two men from the stairwell (from their breakout session)
- They worked in the orchards
- They worked in the house
- They worked in the kitchen
- They didn’t stay in the house. They just worked there.
- She was standing in the corner
- She followed them in from the stairs
- She wasn’t the one they were talking to in their breakout session
- She worked in the house
- She was a housekeeper
- She didn’t work there in the 1900s
- She worked there in the 1800s
Ben Adams came into the room with his SLS camera. The SLS camera uses Kinect technology and shows a stick figure on the screen if a ghost is present.
- She of them was married
- They were talking to a woman
Second Session – Red Group
- They were talking to a male
- He worked there
- He wasn’t an owner
- He wasn’t scared of them
- There were multiple people in there with him
- There were two spirits there
- The other spirit was his wife
- They were the owners
- He is happy
- They were still talking to a man
- When asked if they could point to where they were, the rods pointed toward the bathroom
- They liked mashed potatoes and gravy (I mean, who doesn’t?)
- They have family in town still
- They like cornbread
- They don’t know RJ (he was using the rods and works for the NH Inn)
- They were talking to Max
- There was a female there too
- He was seven years old
- They asked if Max could light up the cat ball and he did
- The female in the room was his mother
- She was hiding with him, as well
- Max hid longer than six months
- He left the town
- He went north when he left
- He stayed in the room across the hall
- He eventually went to Canada
- He was born between 1850 and 1950
- It was his favorite house to be in
- He didn’t go to school in the town
- He didn’t work in the fields
- He was still a child when he left
- The owners kept him safe
- They see us do our ghost walks outside
- They don’t stand in the window so we can see them when we walk by
- They want to be seen though
- It’s very tiresome trying to be seen
- They don’t go anywhere else
- They were still talking to Max
- He hid with other boys
- Some of them are with him still
Third Session – Blue Group
- They were curious what the group was doing there
- They enjoy laughing at some of the drunken wedding parties
- They were talking to a little girl
- She is a teenager
- She runs between the rooms
- The girl left and they were talking to someone else (as groups came in from their breakout sessions, they often brought the ghosts back with them)
- They were surprised there were so many people there
- They sometimes visit other locations in town
- They’ve been to WMI (our town library/museum)
- They asked for the rods to point to where they were in the room and they pointed to the corner.
- They’ve swam in the Wabash River
- They worked there
Ben walked in with the SLS camera and demonstrated it for the group. He picked up something standing on Rick’s shoulders. As Ben was filming, it popped up again but then Ben’s camera shut off before he could save it.
Fourth Session – Orange Group
- They lived in New Harmony
- They were younger
- They weren’t there when the house was built
- They are a native to New Harmony
- They don’t know anyone in the room
- They have family from the area that are still here
- They don’t like all of the people in the room
- It wasn’t their room
- They see a lot of weddings
- (I don’t know why they didn’t ask if the person they were talking to was male or female)
- There are more than one of them in the room
- They know Roscoe from the Lee/Lincoln room they were just talking to
- They lived in the house
- They can light the ball light up (but they didn’t actually do it)
- No answer on the question I’ve been waiting for – male or female?
- They’ve swam in the Wabash
- They think the town is peaceful
- They were there when the bridge was built and when the gymnasium was built (a hundred years apart, which makes us wonder about the validity of the response)
- The group stopped announcing the answers to the rods for a long period.
- They’re from New Harmony
- They went back to not announcing the answers, so I can’t document what they discovered. I think everyone was getting tired.
- They were slaves – Rick corrected this because they didn’t allow slavery in New Harmony
- They were educated
- They liked having an education
Breakout Group
- They were talking to two males, one older than the other. Father and son.
- There was a child hiding there. His name was Max.
- There was a man who was married, but didn’t have children. Was buried in the cemetery.
Lincoln/Lee Bedroom
First Session – Red Group
Traci Hoehn led the groups in the Lincoln/Lee bedroom. This bedroom was decorated in a Civil War theme that included two men who certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed sharing a bedroom in life. The room also holds a hidden room. Inside a built-in cabinet is a secret door that leads to a secret room. We have no documentation, but believe it might have been used during the Underground Railroad.
Traci assisted the group with the Estes Method. In this experiment, participants wear a headphone attached to a Spirit Box. The Spirit Box is a modified radio that scans through the stations at a rapid rate, allowing the ghosts to speak through the white noise. By blindfolding the participant and having them listen to the Spirit Box through headphones, it eliminates the possibility that we are hearing what we want to hear. The participant can’t hear the questions that are being asked, but shout out the responses they hear. Sometimes they match up and sometimes they don’t. We’ve also noticed that it sometimes puts the participant into a channeling state. They begin seeing images and understand more of what is going on.
Q: Someone in here with us?
A: Yes
Q: Are you male or female?
A: No
Q: Are you by yourself?
A: So (no?)
Q: Are you scared? Do you know why you’re here?
A: No!
Q: What’s your favorite color?
A: No!
Q: Are you looking into the mirror? Can you say anything besides no? Where were you born? Can you tell me what the name of this house is? Are you alone here?
A: Yes!
Q: Did you open the cabinet doors earlier? Are you being shy right now? Are you happy we’re here? Is there someone in this room you would rather talk to? Do you remember our names?
A: No!
Q: They went around the room and identified themselves. Can you tell us who you’d like to talk to? What’s your name? Do you like this is called the Lincoln/Lee room?
A: No!
Q: Why does it bother you? Are you from the Union Army?
A: No!
Q: Were you from the Confederate Army?
They switched participants.
A: Hello
Q: Hello. How are you?
A: Follow
Q: Did you follow from another room?
A: Followed from room
Q: Did you follow from a room?
A: Beside me. Hiding.
Q: Are you scared?
A: Hiding
Q: Who are you hiding from?
A: Children. The owner
Q: Is the owner male?
A: I know the owner
Q: What’s his name?
A: He’s nice
Q: What’s his name?
A: Stay
Q: I’m not going anywhere. I’m just taking pictures. Did you have your picture taken?
A: A long way
Q: Where’s the owner?
A: Travel
Q: From where?
A: Scared
Q: We’re not going to hurt you
A: You’re messing with me
Q: We’re not messing with you.
A: Ten thousand. Hi
Q: What can we do to help you? Are you alone?
A: Woman
Q: Can we help you? Are you still there?
A: Yeah. The Captain
Q: Who’s the Captain? Is that who owned the house?
A: Yes
Q: Was he in the army?
A: Behind you
Q: Is he on the bed?
A: Yep. My mom
Q: Was your mom married to the Captain? Who else is here? How long have you been here?
A: Jackson. Yep
Q: Is that your family name? Or is Jackson here too?
A: Quiet!
Q: Sorry
A: Yep
Q: Are you still behind us? What’s your favorite color? Don’t slam…the door (Ben had just shut the door). You have to be quiet.
Q: Do you like Ben?
A: Fighting
Q: Who’s fighting?
A: Men
Q: What are they fighting about? Do you like music? Did you make the bells chime?
A: New York
Q: What’s in New York?
A: uh ha
Q: Are you still here?
A: Yup.
Q: Can you tell us something about yourself? Have you been to New York? Is the owner in New York?
A: Stay (Ben just walked out of the room and slammed the door like she didn’t want him to)
A: Many
Q: Many what? Did you live here? Did you hide here? Why are you here? (rapid fire questions)
A: yes
Q: Were you a Harmonist? (House wasn’t built until well after the Harmonist period)
A: Captain
Q: Is the Captain here now?
A: Yes
Q: Is he still on the bed?
A: Behind her
Q: Who is her?
A: Plaid
Q: Behind me? Or behind me?
A: Door
Q: Do you see the wooden boxes? (Rem pods)
A: To the left
Q: Yes, there’s one to my left. They light up and make sound
A: Music
Q: They don’t make music, they make sound
A: Tomorrow
Q: We won’t be here tomorrow. Can you do it today?
A: Can you stop it?
Q: Can you make this clock shut off?
A: I don’t know
Q: Do you feel strong? (Batteries were drained from Rem pod)
A: I’m sorry
Q: You don’t have to be sorry. We like talking to you.
Q: We’re getting ready to wrap up. Is there anything else you want us to know?
A: no response. They brought her out of it and she said she felt very sad while she was doing it. Ashley is one of the most intuitive guests we’ve ever had. She also attended our Murphy Auditorium event and was just as amazing. If you’re reading this, Ashley, we love having you at our events.
Second Session – Yellow Group
Ben was the first participant for the Estes Method
Q: We’re back again and want to learn more about you. They went around the group and introduced themselves. Are you still here with us? Do you have a favorite place to sit in this room? Can you go sit there now? Did you work in this house or live in this house?
A: Do you know. Hi Ben.
Q: laugher
A: Do you know?
Q: Do you know Ben? Are you the same person who was in here earlier talking to Traci and the others? What was the little secret closet used for?
A: Hi
Q: Hi! Did you live in New Harmony?
A: Do you want to laugh?
Q: I love to laugh. Will you tell me a joke?
A: Hey
Q: Hey. Can you see these purple lights on the floor? (Trip lights)
A: Do you want to ask?
Q: Yes. I want you to change the colors on the Trip Lights. Can you do that? Walk up to them and they’ll change colors. (Side note: The Trip Lights are based on EMF technology and will light up when a ghost comes near them)
A: Rick
Q: Do you know Rick?
A: That’s good
Q: Are you still here with us? (after a long time with no response) Is anyone still here with us? Do you want to talk to someone else instead of Ben?
A: Who the F?
Q: Is there someone new here? Who was cursing? Is the Captain still here?
A: Food
Q: Are you hungry? What kind of food do you like? Are you over there in the corner by the doorway?
They pulled Ben out of the session. He said he heard a lot of crying.
Rachel Maurer was the next one to try the Estes.
Q: Do you see the dog in here? Do you like dogs? Were dogs allowed in the house when you were here? Is there anyone here who wants to talk to us?
A: Talk
Q: Yes. We just want to talk. You can say whatever you want. Do you like cats? Or birds?
A: Me
Q: Are you a man or a woman?
A: Buried (or married?)
Q: Were you married?
A: Yeah
Q: Did you live in this house? Did you work in this house? Did you have any children?
Q: Did you live in New Harmony? Earlier you mentioned food. Can you tell us what your favorite food was? Were you married to the Captain? What was your favorite color? Can you hear Ben? (talking in the other room)
A: The night
Q: Did something happen at night?
A: A couple of
Q: Did something happen a couple of nights? Was it good or bad? Are you scared? What was your favorite thing to do? Did you like to read or take walks, go down to the river? Did you live here when there was an orchard?
A: A point
Q: Okay. Can you tell us your name?
Rachel came out of the Estes. She said it was hard to understand. She felt like someone grabbed her arm towards the end. She also said she heard “old timey” music at times.
Eric decided to give it a try.
Q: Hello? Does anyone want to talk to us? Can you tell me your name? Is there someone here? Did you used to hide people in that room?
A: Practice
Q: Practice what? Did you open the little door?
A: Stand
Q: How old are you? Do you like to play the piano? Did you live here? Can you open that pantry door again?
They pulled Eric out and Lisa gave it a shot. Lisa is a medium who often uses the Spirit Box for channeling.
Q: Is there anyone here who wants to speak to us?
A: Yellow. That’s my favorite color. Lynn.
Q: Is that your name?
A: Better not go there!
Q: Where am I not supposed to go?
A: It’s always so hot.
Q: In that little room?
A: We have to be very quiet. There were men here today.
Q: What kind of men?
A: Twenty-three men. Some had horses. We could hear them.
Q: Were they soldiers?
A: I wasn’t supposed to be here. My mother died.
Q: Did you come to work here and have a place to stay?
A: My hands (said with grief). Could play the piano….easily. Sis is going to learn next.
Q: Can we hear you play sometime? What’s your favorite song? Can you tell me your name?
A: Tomorrow they will come for our guns.
Q: Who’s coming?
A: There. They’re shooting them there
Q: Where did you hide them?
A: He’s a hero.
Q: Who’s a hero?
A: Patty will sing on a Sunday. We get to hear the music then.
Q: We’re going to have to go. Is there anything you’d like to tell us?
They pulled her out of the session because the time was up.
Third Session – Orange Group
The first participant donned the headphones and they were off and running.
Q: Is there someone who’d like to talk to us? (they introduced themselves)
A: What?
Q: What do you mean?
A: Fuck!
Q: Is that your favorite curse word? Are you mad? Are you from New Harmony? Are you going to talk to us?
A: Done
Q: Are you done talking to us? Is there anyone else who’d like to talk to us? Traci noted that a strong woman just drifted in.
A: Out of time
Q: But we just got here. We’d like to hear what you will say. What’s your favorite color? Did you go to school here? Are you hungry? How many of you are here?
A: Fuck you!
Q: That’s not very nice. Rosemary is a very nice lady. Why are you so angry?
A: You’re about to break
Q: What going to break?
A: Ouch!
Q: Did you get hurt? Did you fall down the stairs? Do you like it here? Do you like visitors?
A: Hurry up. Somebody.
Q: What do you need us to do?
A: Too close
Q: What are we too close to?
A: Hell no
Q: We want to help. Do you stay in this house all the time? How old are you?
A: Hello? Where at? Stand! Hold.
Q: Can you tell us something about yourself? What’s in that hidden room behind you? How long have you been here?
A: Back. Please help!
Q: What can we do to help you? Are you hurt?
A: Real
Q: Are you not feeling well? Can you tell us your name?
A: Roscoe
Q: It’s nice to meet you, Roscoe. Is that your first name or your family name? Was this your bedroom, Roscoe?
Listening to the audio, I suddenly heard the sound of a cat or child crying. Traci followed it with a question of whether there were children there.
Q: Were you born and raised here in New Harmony? Did you live in this house?
A: Army
Q: Were you in the Union Army?
A: Are you?
Q: Did soldiers stay in this house?
A: Hell-ostomy (not sure what that is)
Q: Were you married, Roscoe? Did you fight in the war? Did you know any of the Owen family? Are you still here?
A: Perfect. Last.
Q: Last what? Did you have any children? Roscoe, are you still here?
A: Sup!
Q: What year were you born, Roscoe?
A: Hear me
They brought her out of the session. She said it was a female that said “Sup!”
Misty was the next participant.
Q: Is Roscoe still hanging around? Are you tired of talking?
A: No
Q: Is there anyone else in here besides you, Roscoe? Are you still here with us, Roscoe? We’d like to talk to you. Are you hiding a person of color in that room?
Q: How old are you? Are you still hurt?
Misty pulled herself out of it. She said it was so loud. Traci set up the next participant.
Q: Is there anyone who wants to talk to us?
A: Sup!
Q: I’m glad you’re back. My name is Traci. Can you repeat any of our names back?
A: Hey!
Q: Are you a male or female? Did you live here? Are you going to talk to us? Did you work here in New Harmony?
A: Listen
Q: Okay. We can listen.
A: Whisper
Q: Are we talking too loud? Are you still angry? Was this your bedroom? Can you touch the antenna on the boxes and make them light up?
Fourth Session – Blue Group
Q: The group introduced themselves. Is there anyone here with us? Can you tell us your name? Were you the person dancing on Rick earlier? (SLS Camera showed a stick figure dancing above Whistling Rick). Do you like Rick’s whistling?
A: Congratulations. What?
Q: Congratulations for what? Is there still a little girl around us? What were you congratulating us for?
A: Can. Work.
Q: What kind of work?
A: Noon
Q: Is something going to happen at noon? Do you work here in this house? Who were you congratulating? Is there still someone named Roscoe here? Is there someone in the secret room? Would you talk more if someone else was listening?
A: George
Q: Who is George?
They pulled him out and set Maryellen up with the headphones.
Q: We switched listeners. Are you more willing to talk now?
A: Here
Q: What’s here?
A: No. Under the covers.
Q: Who’s under the covers?
A: I’m back
Q: Is this the Captain?
A: Sometimes
Q: Are you still on the bed? Are you still here with us?
A: Boy
Q: Is there a boy here?
A: Window. Yesterday. Last night. Next Monday. Maybe.
Q: What’s the boy’s name?
A: It was backwards
Q: What was backwards?
A: Rose. Settled. A friend. Rose was.
Q: Was Rose your friend
A: Oklahoma.
Q: Was she from Oklahoma?
A: In a dream
Q: Whose dream? Who did Rose marry?
A: Seven. Nine. Ten. Not old. Middle. Seven. Hold me. Just a little. I was there.
Q: Where were you? What is your name?
A: One more time
Q: Did you not understand.
A: Okay. Home. It’s okay. I’m home. You were out.
Q: yes. I was out. Was I out on the porch?
A: Oh my God. Where are you going to?
Q: After this, I’m going home.
A: I’m not listening. Go away.
Maryellen pulled the headphones off. It was getting overwhelming. She felt like someone blew cold air in her face. She heard someone say her name.
They set a new person up with the headphones.
Q: Are you going to keep talking to us?
A: Where are you?
Q: I’m right in front of you. Where are you?
A: Place
Q: What place are you at? Are you in the hiding place? Are there children here? Is there a little girl here?
A: We don’t
Q: We don’t what?
A: This here
Q: Who is here? Do you remember any of our names? Can you say one of them?
A: Afraid
Q: What are you afraid of?
A: Local
Q: Are you from here? Are the locals mean to you?
A: Why?
Q: I don’t want anyone to be mean to you
A: Is that the best?
Q: The best of what?
He took the headphones off. He’d had enough. He was hearing a female voice. It was like a loud whisper. The person before him said she heard the same thing. The next person decided to give it a try.
A: Please. Don’t
Q: Please, don’t what? Is there something we can help you with?
A: Get out
Q: We’re going to be leaving very soon. Is that okay? We have five minutes left. Do you like having the place to yourself or do you like it when guests are here?
She didn’t last long. She said she felt dizzy. Traci donned the headphones for the last five minutes.
A: you know what?
Q: What? Is the Captain still here?
A: What’s that? It’s hiding
Q: Who’s hiding?
A: Fuck off!
Q: Well, we will soon, but not now. Can you tell me your name?
A: There
Q: There? What do you mean?
A: Do it again. A lot of them
Q: Are you talking about us? Or are you talking to someone else? Do you like pickles? (of course Ben asked this epic question)
A: We found him
Q: Found who?
A: Please don’t. I seen them. Floater
Q: Are you talking about down by the river
A: We’re here
Q: From where? Are you hiding here?
She took off the headphones and the session was over. Traci noted there were a lot of drownings at the river. Some were super suspicious, but many of them were from people swimming in the river and getting caught by undertows.
Breakout Groups
- The owner was in there still and there are women and children hiding, as well.
- Male, in his twenties. Not from New Harmony, but he was from Indiana. He stayed in the hidden room all the time. He confirmed that the voices in the other rooms (investigators) were irritating.
- He’d been there for more than twenty years
- Another group picked up on a male. He stayed in the hidden room.
- Confirmed the house was part of the Underground Railroad
- Wasn’t a slave. Was dark skinned.
- Likes dogs. Doesn’t like cats
- Several people reported getting headaches after doing the breakout sessions.
Joni’s Group
I held a Paranormal 101 class in the dining room. I went through several exercises designed to open up their sensitivities and also taught them how to ground their energy and create a shield to keep them protected. Towards the end of the session, I handed out paper and pencils and asked them to describe the ghost in the room. I was feeling a dark-haired woman from the late 1800’s, wearing a light blue dress with a high color. Several people from each group also described her, but many others picked up on a tall, dark-haired man on the other side of the room. The reason why we do this on paper is so we are all working with a clean slate. If I told them what I felt and then asked them what they were picking up on, all they’d be able to think about was the woman I described. Mediumship is another way of investigating the paranormal, and by opening up your sixth sense, you can perceive even more information.
Conclusion
After listening to all the audio we recorded during the night, I’m even more intrigued by the ghosts at the Orchard House. During the first EVP we captured, they told us there were eight of them. Over the course of the night, we uncovered all of them:
- The Captain – was in the Lincoln/Lee room
- Roscoe – also in the Lincoln/Lee room
- George – Lincoln/Lee room and in the living room
- Woman with dark hair and a blue dress – in the dining room
- Tall man with dark hair – in the dining room
- Greg – in the living room
- Maddie – the little girl in the living room. Her favorite color is pink and she’s six years old.
- Max – a little boy who hid in the secret room and eventually traveled north.
Armed with this information, we will go back for another investigation on March 18,2023 and will attempt to learn even more about them.
Thank you to my team for making this go so smoothly and thank you to everyone who attended. Special thanks go to the New Harmony Inn for allowing us to investigate this amazing old home.
First Group 
I started off by apologizing to the ghosts of the gallery for anything we might have said or done that angered them. I then asked if they knew who knocked it down. The same male voice we’d been hearing all night said, “From knowing.” That didn’t make any sense to us, so I asked if they knew why it was knocked down. He told us, “The printer was in there.” Neither response was crisp enough to include it here.
Basement
They decided to do a dowsing rod session while Traci recovered from the Estes Method.
The Natural History Room is located on the second floor of the building and contains a portion of the museum. Glass cases wrap around the room, showcasing everything from old Civil War weapons to old shoes. It also houses quite a few taxidermy animals, including an 8-legged calf, and the skeleton of a Civil War hero horse named Old Fly.
The Gallery Room is across the hallway from the Natural History Room. It houses some of the larger historic artifacts in the museum, including a Harmonist wagon, fire engine and Father Rapp’s desk. All around the room are huge paintings in gilded gold frames. The photos were provided by Dr. Edward Murphy.
My second group arrived after being in the Natural History room. Several of them told me they had experiences with the Ganzfeld Experiment.
My third group was primarily composed of people I know from other investigations or from around New Harmony. I decided to go right to Spirit Box since we were starting to get some reactions during the last group. We introduced ourselves and then went around the room, asking questions.
(Above) Our investigation on the stage of Thralls Opera House. Photo courtesy of Traci Hoehn.
(Above) Our investigation on the first floor of Community House #2. Photo courtesy of Traci Hoehn.
(Above) Our investigation in Community House #2. Photo courtesy of Traci Hoehn.
(Above) Thralls Opera House. Photo by the author.
(Above) Community House #2. Photo by Joni Mayhan
(Above) Several members of the group during an EVP session. Photo courtesy of Traci Hoehn
(Above) The Fauntleroy Home. Photo by Joni Mayhan
(Above) The room was completely dark when Elizabeth Stowers took this photo. Several people have stated that a slow shutter speed will produce these results, but I find it interesting because a flash was used for the shot. Is it paranormal or just a slow shutter speed? You be the judge.
(Above: The laser grid set up in the second floor hallway in Community House #2 )
(Above: Amanda Bryden talking to the group on the third floor of Community House #2)
(Above: The Fauntleroy Home)
(Above: Amanda Bryden talking to the group on the first floor of The Fauntleroy Home)
(Above: Our group on the second floor of The Fauntleroy Home with the pinwheel in the middle of the group. The red light is from a flashlight)
After a presentation on the history and hauntings of the building, we split up into three groups. They were led by Mary and Gary, who are both volunteers at the mansion and Kaitlyn Tisdale, who works for the Culbertson Mansion Historic Site.
First Floor
We also utilized several devices that recorded changes in the electromagnetic fields. EMF detectors such as the Mel Meter and KII meters are often a valuable tool. Ghosts will use these to interact with us, but we didn’t have a lot of success with them at the mansion.
Perhaps one of the more chilling recordings I heard all night came during my third group. Two voices came on the Spirit Box, talking about me. “Where’s Joni,” one voice said. Then another voice responded with, “Oh, there’s Joni.” I’ve heard my name on the Spirit Box several times before but have never had them actively looking for me, which was a bit creepy.
Second Floor
Melissa Goforth (pictured above with her daughter Sophie), who was reporting the event for the local paper, brought her daughter Sophie with her. Normally, I don’t allow children under 15 to attend my investigations for a variety of reasons, one being that it’s a bit much for children to handle. Through some miscommunication, I didn’t realize that Sophie was under fifteen until she arrived at the mansion. The ghosts seemed to like her though, so I was glad she attended. As I reviewed all the audio from the evening, most of it occurred when her group was in the room.
Third Floor
Review
During the opening session, I turned on my recorder and began explaining how the investigation would work. While I was talking, a woman’s whispery voice said, “I do,” in response to if they understood how to use the flashlight to communicate with us. Thirty seconds later, I felt a touch on my finger. It felt like a fly landed on me but there wasn’t a fly anywhere in the room. I mentioned it to the group and the flashlight came on immediately.
We introduced ourselves and then I passed the dowsing rods around the group. When it was Frank’s turn, his hands were shaking as he held the rods. He apologized for his shaking hands and we received an EVP at that point. The same female voice consoled him, saying “You’re fine.”
Room #3
Room 4
Room #1
I returned for the second investigation the following day. The second group was smaller than the first. We had two groups from the Evansville area attend. One was an experienced paranormal investigator named Donna, who attended with her friend, sister and her mother. The other group was a woman and her 13 year-old-daughter, Zoey.
We started out with a dowsing rod session. I was curious to see if Leora was there with us and received a “no” response. I continued on.
Room #4
Room 1
Haunted New Harmony 