Alton Confederate Cemetery - 10/9/2007

Location: A cemetery in North Alton. This site was used to bury the remains of many of the Confederate soldiers who died in the Alton Penitentiary around the time of the Civil War. Originally, the graves were marked with wooden indicators, which, naturally, didn't last more than a few years. Then in 1906, a monument was erected on the site to commemorate the over 1300 men buried without tombstone on this site and on Smallpox Island. Reports of activity in the area include seeing moving shadows, hearing voices or sounds, and full bodied apparitions.

Conditions: Temperature was 71 degrees at the beginning of the investigation. Relative humidity was recorded at 32 percent. The moon was in a waning crescent phase, 1 percent of full. Solar x-rays were normal and the geomagnetic field was quiet.

Equipment Used: Canon 10D DSLR with a Canon 380EX Speedlite, Pentax K100D DSLR, Olympus DS-30 audio recorder, Cellsensor EMF Detector, Extech EX410 Multimeter, Radio Shack Thermometer/Hygrometer

Personal Experiences: Because the cemetery was pretty much ringed with houses, we had to dismiss virtually every noise that we heard, strange or normal. One person had their TV on with the windows open so we kept hearing "singing" over the course of the investigation.

EMF readings were consistently flat, never venturing above 0.0 to 0.1 all night. There were however, some strange thermal readings. The average initial temperature recorded was 71 degrees on the digital thermometer. At one point in time, a temperature of 62 degrees was reported in one area that felt noticeable colder at the time. Subsequent returns to the spot of that anomaly were never able to produce a temperature below about 66 or 67 degrees. Also, at one point near the top of the hill, a warm spot was felt. The air was described as feeling "stuffy" at the time and a temperature spiking up to 78 degrees was recorded.

Neither of the investigators present felt or saw anything out of the ordinary.

Results and Analysis: Audio analysis revealed one possible EVP. Photo analysis showed a couple of interesting things. Two orbs were recorded and in the distance in one of the photos, something that resembles a standing figure is seen.

Photographic Anomaly One:

This photo was taken at random at the beginning of the investigation. The anomaly found is near the fence in the very back of the photo about 100 yards away from where the photo was taken. The arrow in the photo above shows the general location of the anomaly.

A somewhat closer crop makes it a little easier to see something that is either a combination of the fence and cracks in the road, or what looks like a figure standing just to the left of the tree in the center of the photo. Because of the considerable crop of the photo and the distance of the anomaly, it is almost impossible to tell for sure what it is.

This is an even tighter crop that has been resolution, sharpness, and contrast enhanced to maximize what detail may exist. It very much resembles a figure with their head cocked to the left side of their body. You can even almost make out that the right arm is raised a little bit and there is even what might be a shirt pattern amongst the fence posts. It is clear, however, that if this is a figure, it is definitely transparent.

Photographic Anomaly Two:

Here is one of the orbs that was captured in the course of the investigation. It seems to be floating just above the concrete structure. The reddish light on the right hand side of the image is a street light from behind the cemetery.

Here is an enlarged view of the orb.

Photographic Anomaly Three:

Here is another orb captured during the investigation, this one was taken before the sun actually went down. In another photo taken from the exact same position, literally seconds later, the orb was gone.

Here is a larger view of this orb.

Audio Anomaly:

This possible EVP was captured while the digital audio recorder was positioned on top of the monument at the site while the investigators walked around the area. The investigators were doing various EMF and thermal sweeps at the time, and were approximately 20 feet away from the recorder at the time. You can hear in the background one of the investigators talking about using the EMF detector, but you can clearly hear that he is at a distance from the recorder. It is difficult to articulate any real word from this sound, but best guess is that it sounds like someone saying "home".