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Investigation # 4 - Monmouth Battlefield,
(Manalapan, NJ) - June 28, 2011
233rd Anniversary of the Battle of Monmouth
I was eagerly awaiting this date to come, as it was the anniversary of the Battle of Monmouth. I had read in some sources that there was a theory that the closer to the anniversary of an event marked with death (war, sickness, murder, natural disaster), that paranormal activity would get stronger as you got closer to the anniversary date.
Since I was off from work and there was favorable weather forecast for the day (high 80'sF, partly to mostly cloudy with slight chance of rain), I was hoping that the actual anniversary of the battle would have paranormal activity at its strongest. I had planned out an early start to the day as I did have to pick my daughter from day camp, so I thought I would have a full 5 hours for travel and investigation.
My plan was to some a brief investigation of Combs Hill where the Continental Army set up cannon to fire on the British battle line by the hedgerow. I have always wanted to sit on the hill and investigate, but there is a lot of traffic there from school groups, hikers, sightseers, etc. Then I wanted to do a quick stop at the Hedgerow, proceed from there to where George Washington relieved General Lee of his command. That was to be followed up by going over to the Sutfin farmhouse, the main American battle line and finally the area where Molly Pitcher manned a cannon when her husband was wounded during the battle.
Of course the best laid plans of mice and men.....................well, you know. A lot went wrong on this day, including the loss of my digital recorder, which I am sure lost some great evidence to present. Thank goodness my camcorder was able to record some very interesting evidence.
Upon my arrival, Combs Hill had to be discarded due to the lawn being cut by tractors. Too much noise. So I went right down to the hedgerow where I have had great activity in the previous trips there. I was set up perfectly as nobody was in the area, I had good light for the use of my IR filter for the camcorder, plus a chance to try out a new trigger object. The highlights of the hedgerow investigation are in the first part of my 3 part video I had made from my recorded footage.
After wrapping up here, I had to pack up and head back to my car to drive to the other side of Monmouth Battlefield which was either a 30 minute hike or a 5 minute car trip. This is where better preplanning would have helped as I had not yet been to the other side of the battlefield, but I figured the road map of the area which showed key points of interest and parking spots would easy to find.
They weren't!
When I saw the parking spot for the area where Washington met Lee, I balked because the spot was too close to the road and right near a "T" intersection. So most if any recorded evidence would be washed out by traffic noise and construction noise as their was construction going on in that area too. So I got on the next road (Route 522) and headed towards the parking areas near the Sutfin house and near the American battle line.
Then I drove up and down Route 522 trying to find the parking area. It turned out that the parking area was near a marker for Molly Pitcher and it was a small area near a house with a small sign that said "Friends of Monmouth Battlefield". Except the sign, house and driveway are basically hidden by large trees in the front yard. You don't notice anything until you've driven past!
I finally made my way in, filmed the area and then started to make my way to the Sutfin house. There are paths cut through the farm land for the hikers, so it was fairly easy to make my way over to the Sutfin place. The following is the 2nd part of my 3 part video based on these events after getting there. The interesting part was when I neared a tractor that was parked about 50 yards from the house.
Here is a picture of the tractor without the IR Filter view.
As was stated in the video, when I went over to inspect the tractor to see if it was responsible for the Mel Meter having a short spike, there was no EMF coming off the tractor nor did I feel any heat as if the tractor had been running recently. The Mel Meter also showed no increase in temperature as I placed it near the engine. If the engine had been recently run and was cooling off, I would say that was the explanation for the clanks (engine cooling). But it had not been in use. Not to mention right after I asked for it to make that noise again, it did. Coincidence? Maybe. It was interesting nevertheless.
After my brief detour with the tractor, I then made my way over to the Sutfin house.
This old farmhouse is not in the best of shape. Doors to the building are padlocked, most windows are covered with boards and there is a fence going around the parameter of the house to keep people out. A good idea as it does not look safe to enter, you can see hornets flying in and out the house, meaning it is probably loaded with hornet nests. But I was able to set up my camcorder in the front of the house to the right on the dirt road. I was able to leap frog a small ditch and get within 20 feet of the house to make contact with what spirits might be still lurking inside.
This part of the investigation proved to be the most interesting to say the least. Here is the 3rd part of the 3 part video I made of the investigation.
After my investigation here, unfortunately, time had run out on me at this point to continue my investigation, so the main Continental Army battle line and the area where Molly Pitcher was located had to wait until my next investigation.
I was very happy with the results of my trip over here, though I really still am not happy I was careless with my digital recorder as a lot of potentially good evidence was lost. Though I am grateful for what the camcorder caught, some of my dialog through the ghost box would have sounded better hearing their words directly.
