The Cheney Mansion - 10/11/2008

Location: The Cheney Mansion in Jerseyville Illinois. The building was originally started in 1827 and served as a tavern, a home, and an inn. This building, known as the "Red House" would be taken over by members of both the D'Arcy family and later through inheritance, the Cheney family. Both of these families had considerable wealth and added on to the Red House to build the mansion to its current majesty. A small vault in the cellar of the house has also been identified as a hiding spot for northern traveling slaves on the Underground Railroad.

There are reports of multiple spirits possibly residing in the home. People have witnessed apparitions of adult men and women as well as the spirits of a child and that of a dog. Unusual sounds, temperature fluctuations, anomalous mists and strange shadows have all been reported in the mansion as well.

Conditions: This investigation was conducted between 8:00 PM and 2:00 AM. The inside temperatures were recorded between 69 to 73 degrees. Relative humidity levels were recorded between 69% and 71%. The moon was in a waxing gibbous phase, 94% of full. Solar x-ray levels were normal and the geomagnetic field was quiet.

Equipment Used:Two Canon 10D DSLRs, Sony V1 with a Sony HVL-IRM Infrared Extender, Two Extech 480823 EMF Detectors, Two Cellsensor EMF Detectors, Olympus VN-4100PC digital audio recorder, Olympus DS-30 digital audio recorder, Radio Shack Thermometer/Hygrometer, Brunton ADC Ridge Barometer, Extech EX410 Digital Multimeter, Two Craftsman Digital 82345 Multimeters, Two Mastercool 52224 IR Thermometers, Sony DCR-SR82 Camcorder with a Sony HVL-IRM Infrared Extender, Sony ICD-P620 digital audio recorder, KII EMF Meter, Sony DCR-HC21 Camcorder, Sony DCR-TRV70 Camcorder, and 13 LED IR and UV flashlights.

The Set-Up: We set up three DV camcorders in various hotspots around the house: the nursery area where a door was said to open on its own and toys would mysteriously move, P.D. Cheney's bedroom where his spirit had been seen, and the main floor vault area where the apparition of a man and a child have been witnessed. A digital audio recorder, Cellsensor EMF detector, and a motion sensor were left in Cheney's bedroom all in view of the camcorder. A laser level was set up in the nursery, and a suspended magnet was set up near the vault, again, all in view of the camcorders. The investigative group traveled from room to room with an audio recorder, IR camera, visible spectrum camera, and various EMF and temperature sensing devices. We were granted special permission to go into a little used prayer room up in one of the mansion's towers and are the first people to investigate this space.

Personal Experiences: Several times people reported feeling like someone was standing next to them, or near them. Several times people got the chills and felt cold, even though no substantial temperature change could be noticed on the thermometers. One investigator felt a strong breeze blow across him while standing still even though neither the air conditioning or the furnace were running and no windows were open. Another investigator felt like something flicked his hair while he was preparing to ascend the main staircase.

Meter Readings: We had some interesting activity while using our KII meter in the music room. While doing a routine sweep, we picked up on an anomalous pocket of EMF in front of a couch in the room. The field seemed to only be about 1.5 feet wide and maybe 4 feet tall. We set down the KII in the area and directed any spirits to answer our questions in the affirmative by making the lights on the meter illuminate. In response to our questions, we would sometimes have as many as three or four lights flash before going away. Interpretation was challenging, but we seem to have possibly made contact with a young girl who was a servant or a worker in the house. Eventually the field died and we left the room. After asking the spirit if they were sitting on the couch with us, we swept the couch with the KII and picked up a pocket of EM right in the center of the couch. One of the people present with us asked if the girl was standing next to her, and after putting the meter next to her, got the meter to spike.

We returned to the music room later to see if we could experience the same activity. We again hit the same pocket of EMF, but in a different location. This time, the energy seemed to be moving. The field appeared to start in the front of the room near the fireplace, then we followed it towards a side wall where it appeared to occupy a chair, then it moved again towards the door and then back to the fireplace before dissipating.

We could not find any natural explanation for this activity. All the power to the music room, the outside hallway, and all the surrounding rooms had been cut off; holding the meter right next to an outlet or switch would not generate a reading. The basement had been previously inspected, and there wasn't any piece of electrical equipment that could have been cycling on and off to affect our readings. The basement did have some high levels of EMF in some of the wiring and tubing that was running across the ceiling, but we were able to isolate those areas because the readings were constant. During this event, the meter would pick up a reading for a few seconds and then go away. Also, we observed that the departure of a field would often be accompanied by a large spike on the KII before dropping back to nothing.

Results and Analysis: Visual spectrum photography didn't reveal anything necessarily paranormal, but we did find an unusual image of a skull shape in a mirror that we've reproduced below. Infrared photography yielded one very interesting photograph. Audio analysis yielded four clips worth further review. Video surveillance was negative.

Photographic Anomaly One:

This photo was captured in the basement with the IR still camera. Two investigators had just emerged from the small vault where slaves were hidden and were walking across the basement. In the photo, you can see one of the investigators, he looks blurry because of the long shutter speeds required by this camera. Everything else in the image is clear because we always shoot this particular camera off of a tripod. However, in the photo is a very unusual "misty" object that appears right in front of the camera. We've never come across an image like this shot with this camera before - which is why it is so unusual. One of the more interesting observations about the shape is that it resembles "someone" putting their hand in front of the lens, as if they didn't want their picture taken.

Audio Anomaly One:

This clip was recorded in P.D. Cheney's bedroom while the investigative team was actively questioning in the room. Cheney was known for his drinking and carousing around town, so we began a line of questioning asking if he had brought someone home with him. Immediately before this sound was picked up, we asked if he had someone with and if our presence was disturbing his privacy. We think this might be saying "She broke the bottle".

Audio Anomaly Two:

This was recorded in the music room around the same time a lot of our KII activity was happening. One of the investigators was monitoring surface temperatures with an IR thermometer when a voice pops up. Just after the investigator finishes talking, there is a faint voice saying something that sounds like "Uh-huh".

Audio Anomaly Three:

In this clip, you hear the request for any present spirits to identify themselves which is followed by a strange sound. After amplification and enhancement, it is still very difficult to determine if it is in fact some sort of a vocalization or a whistling sound. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to belong.

Audio Anomaly Four:

This clip takes place in the music room again, during a later visit in the investigation. The occurs shortly after entering the room and as the investigator present is setting the audio recorder down next to the KII meter. The sound doesn't seem like it is a rubbing sound, you can hear rubbing in the beginning of the clip. It also doesn't sound like the investigator was exhaling, especially not close to the microphone - he was moving the recorder away from his body to set it down. Again, this is a strange sound that just seems out of place.

Bizarre Mirror Image:

While reviewing photographs taken in P.D. Cheney's bedroom, one of the investigators noticed something strange in a photograph of a mirror in the room. There appeared to be a very nicely proportioned image of a full sized human skull staring back out at us.

We took several images of the mirror after discovering this and every image captured showed the same thing. Closer examination of the mirror revealed it not to be something on the surface of the mirror, but some sort of flaw in the metallic backing of the mirror. We probably wouldn't consider this type of thing "paranormal", but it was still unusual and interesting enough that we decided to show some of the images of the skull.

KII Meter Activity Video:

This video was recorded in the music room and demonstrates some of the erratic KII activity we had in that room. The meter was in the hands of one of the historical society members, as whatever was present with us seemed to enjoy interacting with her. The video picks up in the middle of a burst of activity. On our initial sweeps of the room we only had one faintly lit light on the meter everywhere (except for a few obvious locations). We had a hit that lit three lights up on the meter, eventually bouncing quickly up to four lights before dissipating. The second part of the clip demonstrates this activity a second time.

Supplementary Photo:

This photo was taken by one of the members of the Historical Society who was with us during our investigation. This was taken during the time we were experiencing activity from the KII meter (it is sitting on the little table). Shortly after this was taken, we moved the KII meter into the center area of the couch, exactly where you can see the orb (which has been enhanced to show detail), and were able to find an electromagnetic fluctuation only in that particular area of the couch. Paranormal event or coincidental piece of dust captured by the camera? There is no way to know for sure, the it does make for an interesting photograph.