ODGH
Official Investigation Report
Historic Prentis House/Suffolk Visitor’s Center
Location: Suffolk Visitor’s Center/ Historic Prentis House (Suffolk, VA)
Date:February 20th-21st
Time:830pm-4am
Investigators:Andrew, Sara, Tiffany, Katelyn, Jessica, Synique, Rahat
Weather Conditions:Mostly Clear, Cold. (In the low 40’s outside, around 60-65 inside)
Personal Experiences:
Andrew and Sara hear a very loud creak from above while in the dining room (11:08pm)
Andrew hears a whisper in the dining room that is caught on digital audio (11:16pm)
Footsteps are heard walking up the staircase from the first to second floor while no one was on the first floor and the people on the second floor were sitting still in rooms. (12:24am)
Debunking/ Alternative possibilities to paranormal:
Unusually high EMF fields are present in the dining room caused by possibly the light fixtures on the ceiling, leading to possible feelings of paranoia and/or feelings of being watched. (EMF hypersensitivity)
Sound travels fairly easily throughout the house and someone could easily interpret something being close by when it is actually a floor down or even further (except the attic). Floorboards in the house are so old that sometimes when you step on some of them, it can creek the other end of the board or other boards which seems to be far away causing people to possibly hear footsteps while walking.
The Chimneys and ventilation vents can also cause you to think you are hearing someone in the room when they are actually on another floor.
A couple investigators noticed that when you get out of a chair in the attic office, it actually causes one of the floorboards to create a tapping sound that lasts for about 20 seconds after you stand up out of the chair.
The door in the manager’s office room does not seem to latch properly and with a breeze from a window it could cause the door to appear to open by itself.
(Of course these are simply possibilities, not full-proof to claims)
Video Evidence:
(None)
Audio Evidence:
8:57pm a male whisper is heard on the recorder in the manager’s office room with Sara and Jessica. (EVP)
9:14pm female humming is heard in the attic with Andrew and Rahat. (EVP)
11:08-11:10pm the personal experience of floorboards creaking is heard on the recorder, and a couple minutes later a faint whisper is heard. (Disembodied sound)
12:24am Footsteps (Personal Experience)(Disembodied sound)
3:15am young female voice singing?(EVP)
3:35am Piano note? (Disembodied Sound)
Photo Evidence:
(None)
Summary and Opinion:
This investigation was terrific! It was such a remarkable experience to investigate one of the oldest houses in Suffolk. I want to personally thank Kevin Sary for allowing us in to investigate. We did not have too much in the way of impressive personal experiences that night, except one. At around 12:30am a couple team members were on the second floor investigating the office, and they actually heard footsteps coming up the stairs from the first floor, but when they looked no one was on the first floor or the staircase.
This is especially significant because it was one of the major claims of activity in the home. From the investigators experience, they said it sounded like hard sole shoes, or even boots which clearly no one was wearing that night. So we did have that very unusual experience and did manage to pick some strange audio clips, however we still couldn’t point the activity to being a ghost per say, however we definitely can say it was not normal to hear footsteps with no one moving. In our group opinion, while we can’t definitively say it’s haunted (based solely on our experiences and evidence) we can say that there seems to be activity in the home that we cannot yet explain, or understand.
Classification:
Level 3- Paranormally Active (see more about our rankings on our website)