Basements have a bad rap for being scary. Mostly, they are just cobwebby and gross. Personally, the only thing I feared in my parents cellar was the furnace’s potential to blow up. It never did, but it was always a possibility and it always sounded off… like it was about to do something destructive. My early ghost hunting training began here… tromping around in the dark listening for trouble. Never discovered any wrongdoing by the furnace, nor did I find any ghosts. However, I developed an innate talent for roaming around in the dark without crackin’ my head on walls or tripping over junk.

Needless to say, heading into the labrinth of the Houghton Mansion basement was an exciting, musty adventure! This place is divied up into several rooms. There is some weird stuff down there, cobwebs, rotting boards and a little girl who probably likes running around old basements as much as I did… only she’s dead.

I journeyed down below in daylight, as I like to know the lay of the land before I patter around in the dark. I took my digital voice recorder, video and my sensory faculties.

Unbeknown-st to me, my voice recorder picked up a female voice identifying herself as Patty. There is an interesting accent to it.

EVP – “My name is Patty.” Basement1-MyNameIsPattyAMP

In this next clip I ask if anyone is here with me. At the end of clip you can hear clearly, “I’m sorry.”

EVP – “I’m sorry.” Basement2-I’mSorry

Next I picked up a conversation about being cold. It seems to say “I’m cold. Isn’t it cold…blah blah.” This could be residual energy, or perhaps on the other side the weather was brisk? If anyone has a clue on what it’s saying, please leave a comment.

EVP – “I’m cold…” Basement2-talkingColdAMP

This one I’m not sure what it says. At first I thought “hands.” Now it seems like “But as…” It could be a name.

EVP: “But as” ?? – Basement4-hands

This one is cool! It’s a male voice declaring his love. It was rumored that John Widders and Mary Houghton were involved and that Mr. Houghton did not approve of his daughter mixing with servants…

EVP: “I love a girl.” Basement12-ILoveAGirlAMP

These were taken on my walk through. I procured a few more from the big investigation later that evening. I always turn on my voice recorder, even before the investigation formally gets under way. It is then that I get the most EVPs… or so it seems. I presume the spirits are curious at that point and are not threatened by the amount of equipment and investigators tromping around.

I also want to say that I saw a shadow flitting back and forth on the Southern side of the basement. I discovered later this is common and is attributed to the little girl that haunts there.

More to come!

Tj