Lehmann House - 12/10/2007

Location: The Lehmann House Bed and Breakfast is located in Lafayette Square in downtown St. Louis. Lafayette Square is one of the oldest historic residential areas in the city. The 30-arce Lafayette Park in the center of the square is the oldest park west of the Mississippi. The Lehmann House is located at the north end of the square on Benton Place which is the oldest private residential street in the United States.

This 20 room mansion was built in the late 1890's for financier Edward Rowse, which he only occupied for a short time until his death. At that point, the Lehmanns (for whom the house is named) occupied the location.

The entire range of activity has been reported in this location. Current reports by the owner indicate sightings of full-bodied apparitions - including the spirit of Edward Rowse, the original owner of the house. Also, moving lights have been seen in one of the bedrooms, unexplained shadows have been captured on video, disembodied voices are heard, and you can hear what sounds like footsteps and a wheeled cart from the above floors.

Conditions: The investigation took place between 5:30 PM and 1:00 AM. Outside temperatures were approximately 32 degrees during the investigation. Temperatures inside the house ranged from 55 degrees to 63 degrees. Relative humidity was 34 percent. The moon was in the waxing crescent phase, 1 percent of full. Solar X-rays were normal and the geomagnetic field was quiet.

Equipment Used: Canon 10D DSLR with a 380EX Flash, Pentax K100D DSLR with a 360FGZ Flash, Canon 5D with a 550EX Flash, Sony V1, Extech 480823 EMF Detector, Cellsensor EMF Detectors, Olympus VN-4100PC digital audio recorder, Olympus DS-30 digital audio recorder, Radio Shack Thermometer/Hygrometer, Extech EX410 Digital Multimeter, Mastercool 52224 Infrared Thermometer, Sony SR82 Digital Camcorder with a Sony HVL-IRM Infrared Extender.

The Set-Up: Active and passive EVP sessions were performed with the Olympus DS-30 DAR with it staying in the possession of the investigative party the whole evening. The camcorder with the use of the infrared extender was arranged to monitor various rooms that were not being actively investigated at the time. Areas that were monitored on video included the master bedroom, the second and third floor hallways, the library and the parlor. The Olympus VN-4100PC DAR was used to monitor audio in rooms that were not being actively investigated as well. It was left in both rooms by itself and in rooms in conjunction with the camcorder. This recorder was left in voice activation mode the whole time. Before the investigation began, base readings were taken in every room of both EMF levels and base temperatures.

Personal Experiences: There was one potentially unexplained incident that occurred in the parlor area. We had done some initial investigation in that room before moving to the library. After spending some time in the library, we returned to the parlor area and found an origami-paper type ball laying in the middle of the floor. Analysis of photos of the room from before showed this wasn't there just 30 minutes prior. Upon consultation with the owner, it was noted that it could have possibly been the cat that was present in the house that could have moved it to that location. In looking at our original photos of that room, we were unable to find where the object was originally sitting.

A couple of team members reported uneasy feelings in both the library (where the 11th owner of the house passed away) and in the second floor hallway and guest bedroom. In the back part of the second floor hallway, three members of the investigative team noted a shadow that appeared to move from left to right across a hallway. However, this area of the hallway was at the top of a staircase which had a window in the middle of the stairs. It is possible that light from this window was the cause of the shadow.

Meter Readings: Base levels of EMF in the home were what would be considered normal. Many rooms registered base levels of anywhere from .2 up to a 1.5. Higher levels were noted in the entry area, especially close to the floor where we can surmise that there was some sort of wiring running under the floor boards. One area of note for EMF was the alarm clock that was next to the bed in the master bedroom, it gave off an EMF reading that was in the 80's. Also, in one of the second floor guest bedrooms, an EMF spike did reach a 2.0 on our meters before dissipating back to the previously measured base readings in the room of .1 to .4.

Thermal analysis only had one unusual instance. In a third floor bedroom, the temperature was observed on the probe thermometer of 63 degrees. During an active EVP session, we requested that if there was a presence in the room to lower the temperature to 60 degrees. Without leaving that particular area of the room, the temperature was observed to drop to 60 degrees and the return to the previous reading of 63.

Results and Analysis: Analysis of visual spectrum photography reveal a sequence of unusual images. The infrared images didn't show anything out of the ordinary. Analysis of the audio recorder on voice activation mode revealed one anomaly and analysis of the other recorder's audio revealed three more questionable clips. Video analysis has not turned up anything significant.

Audio Anomaly One:

This clip was picked up with the audio recorder that was being used on voice activation mode to monitor audio in the room where we had the camcorder set up at the time. The audio was still running when we returned to check our equipment in the master bedroom. We found that the lasers that we were trying to use for monitoring purposes had completely died. You can initially hear an investigator comment "That one is dead" followed by a second investigator stating "This one is almost dead." No one who was in the room at the time heard the sound or voice that followed. After slowing down the anomaly, our interpretation of the sound seems to resemble a voice saying, "pain".

Audio Anomaly Two:

This audio clip was recorded while in the library of the home where it is known that the 11th owner of the home passed away. The investigator asks the question "Are you the one who died in this room" which is followed by an answer that seems to say "yes". What is also interesting to note is that the owner in question who passed away in this room was female and the voice in the recording seems to have some female qualities to it. These particular clips have been altered from their original states by having noise reduction applied to them.

Audio Anomaly Three:

While recording in the guest bedroom on the second floor of the house, known as the World's Fair Room, we managed to capture what appears to be a whole sentence. This was not in any response to direct questioning, it was just while the investigators present were conversing. Because it is faint, it is a little difficult to make out exactly what the voice is saying. It seems to say "I'd die [or possibly 'I died'] from a [something that seems to be two syllables and starts with a "c" or a "k"]". One possible interesting interpretation of this clip could have that mysterious last word as "colon" making the clip possibly "I died from a colon" which would be applicable because the original owner of the house, Edward Rowse, passed away from colon cancer.

Audio Anomaly Four:

This is probably the most questionable clip, but we felt it worthy of inclusion anyway. This was recorded in a third floor guest bedroom called the Map Room. In the clip you hear an investigator ask "Do you mind sharing your home with us?" followed by a second of silence and the apparent whispered response of "No". This one is pretty quiet, even in the amplified version, so to hear it better might require headphones.

Photographic Anomaly:

Since this anomaly has a number of photographs to go along with it, and there is a great deal of discussion associated with it, we have dedicated a separate page to the analysis. Green Light Anomaly Analysis