Private Residence, Lockport, NY
-Personal Experiences
-Apparition(s)
-Multiple witnesses over a period of years of paranormal movement of objects and other activities
This 1813 residence, located on a 30 acre farm in the countryside on the Niagara Escarpment was researched purely as a recording of personal experiences of the residents. Various occurrences ranged from poltergeist activities (namely slamming of cupboard doors, throwing of dishware from the cabinets and objects being moved and replaced) to actual manifestations as apparitions. The children of the home became so acclimated to the occurrences that they called one of the 'spirits' by the name of 'Jan'.
Paranormal movement of objects: a small cooking fire accidentally started in the kitchen, and the residents were notified when dishes were being thrown from the cabinet to crash in the middle of the floor by unseen hands, drawing them to the kitchen to discover the fire in time to put it out with little damage. On another occasion, a large heavy book was thrown from the foot of the bed and slammed into a wall across the room at 1:00 A.M. awakening the residents just in time to receive a phone call notifying them that a relative had passed away moments earlier.
Paranormal movement or poltergeist activity: In the early mornings around 6:30 A.M., for a period of time shortly after moving in, the mother of the household would hear the cupboard doors slamming in the kitchen, and then in the adjoining long hallway (which held a huge long pantry with doors that led down the entire span of the hallway.) The doors would slam shut, one at a time. At first, she attributed the noises to her husband as he made his way through the kitchen and down the hallway to the back door as he left in the morning. Increasing upset at his supposed noisy exit, one morning she decided she had had enough of the noise. She got up out of bed as the first doors began slamming, and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. As she rounded the corner into the kitchen, she loudly complained "People are trying to SLEEP here!" She stepped into the kitchen, and was shocked to discover no one in there, and the hallway empty. As she stood there, trying to figure out what had been happening, the last door, in full view, slowly swung shut. When it was almost closed, it suddenly gathered enough energy to slam the last couple of inches. Shocked, she sat in the living room playing the incident over and over in her mind, unwilling to go into the kitchen. When she knew that her husband was at work after his drive, she called him. He informed her that he was usually up and out of the house between 5:30 and 6:00 A.M., long before she had been hearing the slamming. It was the first time she fully acknowledged to herself that something was in the home besides her family.
Unexplained noises: Often when the family was downstairs, they would hear what sounded like footsteps on the wooden floor above them. Over time, each family member would remark that they had noticed that the steps would occur during times that they realized that no one was upstairs. The noises ranged from creaking boards to outright stomps and steps.
Visual sightings: Shortly after moving in, glimpses of a young girl in a plain brown dress were seen by the home owners. The shadowy figure was never seen dead on, but more out of the corner of the eye, vanishing if looked at directly.
Visual sightings: The second manifestation of an apparition came shortly after a period of personal unrest in the home. A figure suddenly materialized, as if being formed by the air, and was clearly seen and described as a young man. This young man is the one known as 'Jan', and was attributed as the spirit who seemed to care for and respond to trouble within the home (the emergency notification of the fire seemed to have come from Jan.) The second figure (which had been fleetingly seen as the young girl in the plain brown dress,) and the mischievous actions (slamming of doors, footsteps in the rooms above) have been attributed to a more childlike spirit.
Paranormal movement of objects: During a house blessing by a local minister, the garbage can in the kitchen began rocking back and forth violently, timing it's final tipping over and spilling of waste with the concluding 'Amen' as the minister was delivering a prayer. The only people in the house at that time was the mother and the minister, and neither were anywhere near the can. The minister left immediately afterwards and did not return. Curiously, the mother had not summoned the minister, of a church she did not belong to. The minister had shown up unannounced at the door to give a blessing. She often wondered if the previous tenants (who belonged to the minister's parish) had mentioned activity to the minister, who had felt compelled to give a blessing to the new tenants of the home. She also acknowledged that it may have just been a gesture of welcome by the minister who was making an offer for the new family to join the parish. At any rate, after that episode, she never heard from the minister again.
The members of the family, once they became accustomed to the odd happenings of the home, actually grew to accept the entities as part of the family, referring to Jan by name. They began to recognize the differences of which entity they were dealing with, and gradually had no fear of the events that would happen. Often there was no activity for long periods of time, and then they would suddenly start up again. Once after a long period of silence, the family was in the living room watching a movie together on the television. A candle on top of the television suddenly flickered and lit up. The children, engrossed in the movie, looked up, almost in annoyance, called out "JAN!" as if in rebuke for disturbing them, and continued watching the show. The mother looked on in amazement not only at the candle, but at her children's reaction.
Unexplained: At times the musical instruments in the home (guitars, drums) would plink or sound beats as if someone or something were toying with them. At times this happened with the family right in the room, looking at the instruments in wonder. This happened over the years at various times of the year, which made it hard to attribute to humidity or weather related.
Historical research on the home showed that it had briefly been a tavern in the early 1800's, and then as a family home, and then later, as the homestead expanded and additional family residences were built to each side of 'the homestead', as it became to be known, it was used as the field-hand's quarters. Reconditioned in the early 1950's to once again become a main residence, the farm was kept in the same family for nearly a century. It boasts beautiful wood framing architecture, and a hidden room under the stairs disguised as a bookcase/cabinet. It is possible that this hidden room was once used as part of the Underground Railroad, as the home was located along the trail that led to Canada, and many old homes along that route had hidden passageways used for this purpose.
Additional research uncovered information that a family of Nordic heritage had married into the residing family earlier in the century, which leads to speculation as to the name of 'Jan' being applied to an obviously male entity by the current children of the home long before this information was discovered. Further information was uncovered that the earlier family had suffered a loss of a young daughter named Phebe. Was the spirit of Phebe the young girl seen by the family?
Currently, the home has been sold to a new family, and no further information or research has been possible. One item that was uncovered during the move was the discovery of an old wall hanging, which recorded the deaths of a mother and children over a short period of time. These hangings were common during the last century and were known as death memorials. S.P.I.R.I.T. has this memorial, and is conducting further historical research on it.
It is an interesting residence, with many inexplicable events, many of which were personally witnessed by two of S.P.I.R.I.T's. investigators, but has to remain purely as a 'personal experience' research endeavor, as no recordings or photographs were captured. Perhaps in the future a full scale investigation may be scheduled.
©2006 S.P.I.R.I.T. Paranormal Research - All Rights Reserved.