This past year my team visited McInteer Villa in Atchinson, Kansas. This was the second stop in a two night investigation trip that began with a 4.5 hour drive to Independence, MO, an 8 hour investigation at Vaile Mansion, about 5 hours of sleep, and then another 1.5 hour drive to Atchinson. So, while I was excited about the investigation, I may have also been a wee bit tired and clearly so was the rest of the team because the bouncy owner couldn’t help but comment several times about how we all seemed to be very quiet. Quiet or not, we all were looking forward to having the Villa to ourselves that evening and quickly began to plan equipment placement after the tour ended.
I set-up 3 cameras that night, one in the front room facing the main staircase, one in the first room at the top of the stairs on the second floor, and the final camera in the second floor hallway. It was this last camera that would catch something interesting. Mid-way through the investigation, I was working with a fellow investigator when she started to hear creaking sounds in the hallway. She poked her head out of the room several times to see if anyone was around but each time the hallway was empty. We eventually left that bedroom and moved across the hallway to the library space. It was the moment we were fully inside this room that I started to hear heavy footfalls coming down the hall. I looked at my fellow investigator and she was also clearly hearing these steps. We stood just past the doorway for several minutes asking if anyone was out in the hallway and if they could say their name so we knew who was wanting to enter the room. The heavy footfalls paced back and forth just outside the door. As I stood there, staring at the open doorway, I was certain one of two things was going to happen.
- The team lead was going to come into the room with a soda in his hand after visiting the second floor kitchen.
- A ghost of some sort was going to walk past the door and I was going to need to find a pair of backup pants.
I didn’t expect option 3, no one came by or entered the room. The hallway continued to be empty. The investigator I was working with is also a medium and she felt like there was something we needed to fix in the room we were standing in to help the spirit in the hallway. Not wanting to upset the spirit and risk the actual pants problem, I looked around the room and noticed a chessboard out of order. After recommending this correction to my fellow investigator, she agreed that it would be a good candidate for the “out of order” she was feeling. We sat down and began to fix the chessboard noting that the pacing in the hallway diminished.
Now, here is the real question, did we just imagine the footsteps? A couple days after arriving home, I reviewed my hallway camera footage and discovered that the audio had captured the entire experience. I watched my co-investigator pop her head out of the door and could hear the creaks she was noting. We then crossed the hallway and loud steps can be heard with no body attached. I had a skeptic tell me that it was the house settling or just basic old house noises. While this is likely comforting for the skeptic, I do not think this is what happened that night. I can’t say that a dead person was walking around the upstairs of this house or that whatever it was even cared about the chessboard. What I can say is that something was causing footstep like sounds just outside of the room we were in. After I sent the video to the team, someone pointed out that I caught an EVP. I listened back and can plainly hear someone say “F**k me”.
I welcome you to listen to the sounds yourself and make your own decision. You can find the video here: https://youtu.be/e-m1jBavpQI and this experience is documented at 18:18 in the video. Feel free to share your thoughts and theories on what we experienced that night.
Until next time, happy hunting!