Bringing Back Sligo

So, hearing a male voice when there wasn’t a male was…interesting.  As we all walked up the stairs from the basement I felt like a child again, not wanting to be the last one up and my back feeling so exposed to whatever might be down there.  Because of the male voice on the recording the paranormal team determined that perhaps the energies were more interested in communicating via EVP so we did a few more sessions in the same room of the basement.

Carl, the only man on the team and who according to him the spirits care less to communicate with, decided to give it a try.  So Carl, my mom, and I went down to the basement.  Carl had barely started the EVP session when we heard Paris call from upstairs that the monitor had gone completely blank.  Everything else was running but the monitor had simply turned off.  Jokingly (though I took him very seriously), Carl said that whatever was in the basement wasn’t interested in talking to him.

There were experiences that others had making it difficult for me to write about them because it wasn’t my own person having the experience.  Two people saw a shadow in the basement and asked for it to leave as it was not healthy to still be there.  Another person saw a full bodied figure walk near the Cottage.  While I did not see the shadow with my own two eyes I saw the reaction of the person who did and not even Meryl Streep could fake that.

By 2:00 in the morning we were all wiped out.  We decided to break everything down and call it a night.  I don’t know if the paranormal team were disappointed in the lack of evidence or if this was a typical investigation for them.  Perhaps, when they get back home and review all of the video footage and EVP sessions something else will pop-up that nobody caught in the moment.

Before the team left they assured me that whatever was in the house meant no harm.  As I looked at them wide-eyed, just a little panicked, Paula told me that when a spirit makes itself known it’s almost as if seeing a mouse; it’s totally unexpected and you may startle but then you calm down (although if I do see a mouse I know two household pets who have failed miserably at their job).  I’ll have to get back to you on exactly how I react to that first time seeing a spirit but I have a feeling it won’t be pretty.  I can say that while the events of the night weren’t so terrifying I still did not leave with a sense of belonging in the house.  Marcus travels so much and I just know the first night he is gone I’ll be calling my ride or die biatch to stay with me (because I’m fairly certain mom is out after this night).

In the end there was just enough evidence and just enough inexplicable occurrences that there is no way to deny the existence of something in the house.  Sligo’s land is ancient, it’s foundation is nearly 260 years old, the house itself is 130 years old.  Imagine what has come and gone on that land from ancient peoples, to wars, to births and deaths.

For a slightly more cheery end to this story both of my girls came running into my room the morning after and asked, as if it were Christmas, “Did you see a ghost?!”  When I told them I had not they left, thoroughly disappointed.  I don’t know what Marcus was so worried about.  They clearly think Casper the Ghost is there.

Man, the more I think about it the more this may be a three parter…

So, where were we?  Marcus and I were invited to be a part of the paranormal investigation at Sligo.  It was a no-brainer for me and I immediately said “yes.”  Marcus wasn’t as into the whole thing and opted out.  Damn that logical, engineer brain of his.  We did have one mutual concern though and that was we didn’t want our house to be known as “haunted” and people find out and try to get into into it.  Once we talked it over with the paranormal team we all agreed to do this with complete secrecy.  And now I’m writing about it so, secret’s out.

Alright, so the day of the investigation the team arrives around 6:00 in the evening and start walking through the house.  On the paranormal team were Carl, Paula, and Paris.  On my “team” were my mom (hi mom!) and my ride or die biatch, Lori.  The two women from the paranormal team were particularly sensitive and I noticed a few times there were some areas of the house that appeared to affect them as they whispered back and forth.  Meanwhile, as we all walked through the house, questions were asked about its history and eyebrows were raised as I gave information such as its use as a small pox hospital.

Once our tour of the main house was over we stood outside and chatted a bit about what Paula and Paris had felt or seen.  It was hard for them to articulate but it coincided with what I had been told by a previous resident of the house.  To touch on that a little, I haven’t written about what the previous resident told me because it isn’t my story to tell.  With that being said, I was excited for the night’s adventure to find out if I could validate their story.

Almost immediately at least one experience of the previous resident was validated.  The two women had seen two “elemental energies” peaking out from the attic.  From my very rudimentary knowledge of the paranormal, “elemental energy” is less the energy of a person who passed and more of a natural energy of the surroundings.  It is known to be very impish or childlike in nature.  The very presence of these energies and the room in which they were seen lined up exactly with the previous resident’s story.

Up to this point, everything was being discussed in front of our girls who listened, eyes wide.  I thought it was a very natural conversation to be having but Marcus was less than thrilled.  I have to admit, our youngest can be difficult challenging impossible and it was right to be concerned how she would eventually react to all of this knowledge.  He and the girls left after that with the youngest believing our conversation was about another person’s house.  Crisis averted.  (Funny side story:  That day I asked the girls what they thought a person should wear to a ghost hunt.  The oldest, and more pragmatic of the two, suggested all black.  The youngest suggested I wear a sheet with eyes and a mouth cut out so I would fit in better.  She then wanted me to be sure to take a picture with the ghost.  So, quite honestly, I don’t know if she was as affected by all of the ghost talk or not.)

Anyway, after a break for dinner we all regrouped and the task of setting-up for the investigation began.  I never asked if what the paranormal team use for their investigations is proprietary or not so I will assume that it was and leave out detailed information.  Since I used to be an avid “Ghost Hunters” watcher I was feeling pretty confident in my skills and knowledge.  That’s pretty much where it ended though because the second we stepped into Sligo all confidence was lost.

The first area of the house we wanted to investigate was in the aforementioned second floor room where Paula and Paris had seen the elemental energies.  My heart was pounding, my hands were sweaty (also because it was no less than one million degrees upstairs), and I really wanted to look up towards the attic but was too chicken shit to do so.  Paula and Paris both took turns trying to get the spirits to communicate with various methods but with very little success.  After some time, we went back downstairs.

Once downstairs Carl told us we had a lot of orb activity that he could see on the monitor he was watching plus he was hearing footsteps from the porch through the foyer.  The next room we chose to look in was on the first floor and judging by the monitor, heavy with orb activity.  I was using a device to detect cold spots and at one point Paris asked me to hold still.  Paris, Lori, and I were all very intently looking at it when I had the distinct feeling that someone was almost cheek to cheek with me as if part of the group, viewing the screen.  I turned my head expecting to see Lori but she was a at least one foot away.  That was my first personal and inexplicable experience of the night.

From the first floor we made our way to the basement into one room in particular that had seriously affected Paula and Paris when first touring the house.  We conducted an electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) session which consisted of Paula, Paris, my mom, and myself standing in complete silence as someone asks questions.  After about a minute of asking questions, the session ended and we played back the recording to listen for any abnormal noises.  About 10 seconds into the recording a very distinct, male voice can be heard saying “Here we go.”  There were not any men in the basement at that time.

You’re going to have to excuse me and whatever I write because I didn’t get home until 3:00 in the morning and didn’t fall asleep until almost 4.  I was feeling a little wired and anxious over the night’s events and needed about an hour to crawl into bed and decompress which is why it took an hour to fall asleep.  Then, the kids, having a wanton disregard for my comfort, were awake and running into my room around 7 excited to see if I had survived the night.

I had survived the night though I felt totally hungover.  I think it was a combination of a lack of sleep, dehydration, and (dare I say?) getting older.  I texted my girlfriend who was with me last night, “Is this a sign of aging? *crying emoji crying emoji crying emoji*” and she said it was because she’s usually the voice of reason.  Then we reminisced about how when we were in our 20s we could drink out butts off, go to bed well after 3:00 in the morning, and wake up feeling less crappy.  I don’t necessarily miss those days but I do miss having a little more resiliency.

By this point, two whole paragraphs in, you’re probably wondering what the heck am I talking about?  So, I shall tell you.  A few months ago I posted on Facebook that every now and then a picture I thought I took at Sligo would not be in the gallery on my phone.  It was a semi-sarcastic/semi-serious post because it is true.  The few times a pictures has gone missing it has always only been pictures I have taken at the house.

Anyway, the next morning I woke-up to a message from the head of a paranormal investigation team who asked for me to call him.  I did and we talked and I told him the few things I knew about the house and alluded to some experiences I knew others had.  Eventually, and over the course of a month or so, we set-up a time for he and his team to come out and investigate Sligo.  And, the best part out of all of that?  Marcus and I were invited to tag along…

To be continued…(and yes, I have a very devilish grin right now because I just know there are are a few of you who are probably freaking out reading this).