The Harney Mansion - 6/21/2008

Location: The Harney Mansion, Sullivan Missouri. This house was first constructed in 1856 and then later added on to by General Harney in 1872. The home served as the summer home for General William Harney from 1872 until 1884. This once stately manor has unfortunately fallen into quite a severe state of disrepair, but is currently being renovated and will eventually become a museum.

Reports of activity from the mansion include seeing lights and glowing figures through the windows when no one has been inside. Additionally, visitors to the house have reported a variety of activity including phantom smells, footsteps, and voices.

Conditions: This investigation was conducted between 9:00 PM and 12:00 AM. The inside temperature was recorded at the start of the investigation at 77 degrees dropping to 71 degrees closer to the end. The relative humidity level was approximately 83 percent. The moon was in a waning gibbous phase 86 percent of full. Solar x-ray levels were normal and the geomagnetic field was quiet. Barometric pressure was recorded at 29.20.

Equipment Used: Canon 10D DSLR with a 430EX Flash, Canon Digital Rebel XT with a 380EX Flash, Sony DCR-SR82 Camcorder, Sony DCR-TRV480 Camcorder, Sony V1 with a Sony HVL-IRM Infrared Extender, Extech 480823 EMF Detector, Cellsensor EMF Detectors, Olympus VN-4100PC digital audio recorders, Olympus DS-30 digital audio recorder, Sony ICD-P620 digital audio recorder, Brunton ADC Ridge Barometer, Radio Shack Motion Detector, Extech EX410 Digital Multimeter, Mastercool 52224 IR Thermometer, Radio Shack Thermometer/Hygrometer.

The Set-Up: We initially split into two groups, each group covering one of the two wings of the house. One group covered rooms A and B, and the second group spread out to cover rooms E, F, and G. For the first hour of the investigation, one camcorder was set up to record activity in room H - set up with the motion detector. The second camcorder accompanied the group in room B. The groups eventually switched sides, and the camcorders were repositioned to cover room B and the hallway that runs in between rooms E and G, and rooms F and H. After that, the groups repositioned again to have three investigators in room G, two investigators in room B, and three investigators covering rooms C and D. At this point too, one camcorder was repositioned to cover room C. Audio was constantly being recorded, usually with multiple recorders per group. EMF levels and temperature readings were constantly monitored as well.

Meter Readings: Since power was limited to the house, EMF base levels were negligible. None of our equipment detected any significant EMF fluctuations. On a couple of occasions, people reported feeling cold sensations, but nothing observable was recorded on the thermometers.

Personal Experiences: While sitting in room B, one investigator felt a cold sensation on his arms which did feel cold to the touch as well. No observable draft could be found to account for this. While two investigators were present in room B, they both observed the sound of a loud sigh from the middle of the room. Also in room B, investigators noted the appearance of quick flashes of light that seemed to streak across the wall (it should be noted that these were on the wall opposite the outside wall, so lights from cars could be entering through outside openings causing this phenomena). While in room A, a group of investigators audibly heard what they described as a "womanly shriek" come from somewhere inside the house.

Results and Analysis: Analysis of infrared photography did not reveal anything out of the ordinary. Analysis of three of the audio recorder's contents yielded some interesting clips. Video analysis has not revealed anything of note. Still photography has revealed two interesting photos with anomalies.

Photo Anomaly One:

This photo was taken in room A, pointed up through a hole in the ceiling. This photo appears to show a black shadow mass (circled) on the floor above the investigator. There are a few other interesting things to note about this anomaly. The arrow marked as A points to one of the supporting beams of the floor. The shadow appears to be above this beam, meaning whatever is causing this shadow cannot have its origin below the floor or otherwise you would see the shadow on the bottom of the beam. Also, the shadow appears to bleed a little bit on to the side of another one of the beams, marked as B. This anomaly showed up in only one other photo (presented below) but in none of the other photos that were taken that night.

Photo Anomaly Two:

Here is the second photo that shows the same shadow anomaly. Again, the view is the same - pointed up through the ceiling in room A. It has some of the same characteristics of the previous photo. As marked as point C, the shadow appears to be above this particular beam. Point D again illustrates where the shadow seemingly does cross over on to part of the neighboring beam.

Attempts were made to recreate these particular photos but were unsuccessful.

Audio Anomaly One:

This particular sound was recorded in while the recorder was in room A. This was the "shriek" that was previously described. There was a camcorder that was set up and recording in room B that picked up this sound as well. However, the volume of the sound recorded off of the camcorder in room B was much lower than that of the audio recorder in room A. Judging by those acoustics, it would appear that the sound originated from either in room A itself, or possibly above room A, since the floor to the upper level was deteriorated in that room.

Audio Anomaly Two:

This clip was captured no more than one minute after the previous anomaly was recorded on the opposite side of the house. This sound was picked up off of a recorder in room F. Just prior to the clip, the investigative team from the other side of the house radioed over the walkie-talkie to see if the team in room F had made the sound that they heard. An investigator present in room F stated just prior to this clip that he started to feel cold. Just after the start of this clip, you hear the beeping of the EMF detector being turned on, the squawk of the walkie-talkie, and then a scream that no one heard at the time. You can hear the present investigators in the room talking, so this scream had to emanate from very near the audio recorder.

Audio Anomaly Three:

This audio clip captures the "sigh" that was heard by two investigators in room B. This sound seemed to emanate from the dead center of the room while both present investigators were on opposite corners of the room. The beginning of the clip starts with a couple of seconds of shuffling as the person who was holding the recorder readjusted his grip. This piece of audio was also picked up by the camcorder in the room - we are working to extract that clip of video to use as corroborating evidence.

Audio Anomaly Four:

While two investigators were in room A, they managed to record this interesting clip. This sounds like a whispered voice. It is tough to make out exactly what it is saying, but our best interpretation is "Come follow me."

The Harney Mansion needs your help:

The mansion is badly in need of considerable repairs, which, unfortunately, never come cheap. If you would like to make a donation to their cause, you can send it to the following address:

Friends of General Harney House
P.O. Box 398
Sullivan, MO  63080