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Investigation #3 - Old Tennent Church Cemetery, (Tennent, NJ)
- October 30 & 31, 2015
It has been almost 3 years since I was first here to investigate for possible spirit presence at the Old Tennent Church cemetery. As it was time for the now annual Fall ghost hunt with the "Reiki Hands of Hope" group, I felt this would be the ideal location and on Halloween of all times too!
There are a couple of problems with a daytime investigation at Old Tennent. Ground conditions, visitors and of course the wind all play a huge factor in whether or not you can have a successful investigation on the grounds. As our intention was to mostly focus around the church and the burial area that reaches back as early as the late 1600's, 1700's and 1800's. This is the most popular area to visit. History, tales of ghost soldiers walking the grounds, strange voices being heard. On my two previous trips here, I had picked up a fair amount of audio evidence and had no doubts that we would be successful again.
Though the night before the investigation (October 30), I decided to make a late day run to the cemetery to check the grounds. We did have a day of heavy rain earlier and I did not want us having to walk the uneven, slightly hilly grounds around the Church and risk having anybody slipping and getting a bit muddy.
As I arrived around 5:30PM, there was a photographer who was just leaving, so I would have the grounds to myself. Fortunately, the ground conditions were dry, so they would be fine for our investigation. The only equipment I brought with me was my digital audio recorder. I figured I might as well do some EVP work while I walked around and checked the grounds. Glad I did, because there was some good EVPs captured, including off the grounds just onto Monmouth Battlefield!
(Note: best to use headphones or earbuds in quiet room to listen to EVPs. Listening to them over computer speakers or in a noisy room make it difficult to hear. EVP's are played in original clip, then either amplified and/or noise reduction to hear them better.)
Old Tennent Church #3a EVP #1 - This one is a double EVP, but I cannot make out what is being said. The only bad thing about being at Old Tennent around dinner time is the heavy traffic passing nearby, so the car engine noise is high. But you can clearly hear the voices.
After capturing a few light EVPs over the next few minutes, this one really stood out.
Old Tennent Church #3a EVP #2 - Here I am just walking around, checking out the tombstones when this EVP says what sounds like "Cookie". Now why is the word "Cookie" significant here?
Carolyn Anne was apparently killed in a car accident on her way to a school dance in 1963. As you can see from the photo, her nickname was "Cookie". From stories I have read, people have supposedly seen her walking around in a white dress, maybe a prom dress or the dress she was wearing the night her life was tragically taken so soon?
Was this EVP from her letting me know she was standing with me or was it another spirit who was looking for her? (Note: I found this picture on the "Find A Grave" website for Old Tennent Church as I looked for this plot the next day but could not recall where it was)
Old Tennent Church #3a EVP #3 - Heading off the cemetery grounds on towards the Monmouth Battlefield paths, this voice is captured. Sounds like it is saying "Heading down there."
While walking on the path, I explained how I would be back the following day with my friends and told them that even though there would be quite a few of us, we did not want them to be afraid of us. Then this very clear EVP is captured.
Old Tennent Church #3a EVP #4 - In this clip, you hear me mention about giving them a chance to communicate and then I pause. Just before I speak, you hear a clear male voice say his name "Kev" or "Kevin" just as I start to talk again. Clip replayed 3 times.
All in told, I had about 10 EVPs in the hour plus that I was there. Most of them were faint due to wind and the traffic I was hoping that would not be the case the next day. Fortunately, we were blessed with a sunny day and very light breezes at the most!
We arrived at Old Tennent Church slightly before 11AM. The group included myself and my wife Andrea going out on her first investigation! From "Reiki Hands of Hope", there was Amy, my Reiki teacher and fellow students Amy#2 and Doreen. Also joining us were friends who helped on a previous private investigation, Carole, Andrea, Kristen and her friend Brian. Plus meeting us there to assist me with the investigation would of course be Ian & Gabby, no strangers to investigating the grounds at Old Tennent Church!
We parked and gathered up some equipment to head up to the grounds. We said a quick prayer first and then made our way towards the church. We were literally there about 10 minutes when Amy was looking inside the church when she wished to herself how wonderful it would be to go inside.
Just a minute or so later, a man comes out of nowhere and walks up to me, asking where we are all from. Now at first, since we are all holding cameras, equipment, audio recorders, that we are going to get questioned as to what we are doing. I said I'm from Monroe, others from Old Bridge, Marlboro and around the general area. With that he asked us if we would like to go inside the church and have a look around!
Of course we all said yes! He pulled out a large keychain and walked over and unlocked the doors into the church so we could enter! I have to say that the energy that is in the Old Tennent Church is powerful and amazing. Is it the energy of the Church itself? Is it the energy of the spirits that gather there? A combination of both? I don't know, but I think it was a combination of both!
One of the first questions asked was, "Where is the blood stained pew at?" as the Church was used as a field hospital during the battle. He explained that the pews went back further than they did today, so people mistake which one it is. But he pulled back the cushion and showed us first hand.
As you can see the red stains, the gentleman (sorry I cannot recall his name), said that the blood was in fact tested and the results came back confirming it was human blood. An amazing piece of history!
He gave us quite a history lesson on the church, where people sat, how long they were there, it was very fascinating. We were quite lucky to be there at that exact minute where we would meet somebody who would give us access to inside the church! We did not do any investigating there to be respectful, but we did take a lot of photos!
Carole, Andrea, Doreen, Kristen and Brian
looking at an odd photo Andrea took inside.
Andrea and Amy listening to the
history of the church. Photo taken with full spectrum camera,
Ian and Gabby! (note time
stamp was incorrect)
Picture taken on 2nd floor. Note
what looks like a spirit manifesting towards the back. This is in fact
an illusion caused by the sunlight coming through the window, thus
this is not paranormal. I took several photos in a row with the full
spectrum and this in every picture. That is why you take at
least 2 photos in a row when investigating. If you get the same thing
in each photo, 99% chance its something natural.
Amy and Amy #2 in the center of the
Church. We were told that the body of
William Tennent, founder of the Church is
buried just about where Amy is standing in this photo. A short
while later, Amy #2 is standing in the doorway when she hears a male
voice saying "Morning" to her as if greeting her into the church. But
nobody was near her at the time.
Me standing up at the Pulpit!
It was quite a feeling to stand up where many pastors have stood since the
1700's! When visiting Revolutionary War era locations, I like to
wear my Tricorn hat since this will be very familiar to spirits from that
era.
After about a half an hour inside the church, we thanked the gentleman for taking the time to let us in and share with us his historical knowledge of the church. He did invite us back to visit on Sunday's when the church still has service and I certainly would like to do that in the near future!
After the gentleman left, we made our way over to a famous historical tombstone. During the Battle of Monmouth, there is a story about a Capt. Henry Fauntleroy who was killed by a cannon ball while resting by a tombstone. The tombstone was sheared in half, Capt. Fauntleroy lost a limb and died in the Church. Most likely from loss of blood. We stopped in front of the Tombstone, Ian was holding the Ovilus 4 and Andrea was holding a Sansa Cruz audio player that was playing Colonial Fife and Drum music through the EM Speaker. The EM speaker takes normal sound and broadcasts it as magnetic sound. Sort of like sending an EVP into the spirit realm so to speak. The speaker had worked wonders before at Monmouth Battlefield, this was the first time trying it out at the church.
While we started to get ready to do an EVP session, the very first word out of the Ovilus 4 was "British!"
Old Tennent Church #3 Ovilus 4 - You hear the word "British", I confirm is that what was said and everybody says yes!
Incidentally, about 20 feet away from where we were standing, was the grave site where Lt. Col. Henry Monckton was buried. He was the only British office to be killed during the Battle of Monmouth. For the skeptic, yes there was a 1 in 2048 chance the Ovilus might say this word. Just another random coincidence perhaps?
Full spectrum photo of Lt. Col Henry
Monckton, the only British Officer killed at the Battle of Monmouth.
To note the tombstone to the left of Monckton's is that of Capt. Henry
Fauntleroy, the one killed by the cannonball shot. Only 20
feet away to the right was where the Ovilus 4 said the word "British".
A few minutes later, we are setting up the REM-POD and I am explaining how it works to those that have not yet seen the device in action. During this we capture our first EVP of the day.
Old Tennent Church #3 EVP #1 - You hear me touching the REM-POD. After I say the "The antenna..." and a couple of beeps, you hear a deep male voice sound like it is saying "Here". Clearly more audible at the end with a little amplification.
Nine seconds later, we catch the same voice again!
Old Tennent Church #3 EVP #2 - After I mention how we won't be able to see the lights on the REM-POD because it's too bright outside, the same male says "Shoot". Is he asking us to shoot? Is he asking a spirit to shoot us? No idea, but nobody felt anything bad or malevolent with us.
Old Tennent Church #3 EVP #3 - A couple of minutes later, we hear the pre-recorded history tape being played in the background. Some visitors had walked up to the Church and pushed the button to hear the message. So we joke that's not a ghost talking in the background. So I mention that if we hear a spirit, it will have that whispery type sound to it. A few seconds after I say this, there is a voice that says "Hear me". This is not any of the group speaking and in fact does have that whispery sound that I had just mentioned!
Old Tennent Church #3 EVP #4- Here, about 2 seconds into the clip you hear the EVP. Another whispery voice that sounds like it is the same voice that had said "hear me", but now is saying "See me."! At the time we were having a discussion about how the solider died from the cannonball strike.
Old Tennent Church #3 EVP #5 - Approximately 12 seconds later, this female voice is captured saying what sounds like "Shoot me". Odd that a spirit would be requested to be shot. As some of the group was taking photos with their smart phones, the spirit may have thought it was a weapon. Shoot her to end her agony there in the cemetery perhaps? Or maybe the spirit knew what photography was and was asking to have her picture taken? All speculation, but still a great capture!
As the family that came up to the church was making their way closer to us and their talking got louder, we pulled out of the area to behind the church to the site where Ian & Gabby get lots of EVPs.
Gravesite of Michael Erickson.
Gabby "adopted a grave" and it was Michael Erickson that she chose. She learned a lot about the history of this Patriot! It's funny because she had told us that on one of her earlier trips here, she mentioned that her favorite musical band was "The Who". Now when Ian & Gabby come to Old Tennent, they always seem to get a song from "The Who" on the radio. This day was no exception. It was also funny that one of the ladies mentioned that she had part of a "The Who" song as her ringtone!
Ian, Gabby and Myself, all wearing
colonial era Tricorn hats as this was the common style of hat back in the
Colonial era. Something that would spirits would be familiar
with.
Carole, Amy and Doreen looking on
near Michael Erickson's tomb.
While we were discussing on how we could feel a weak energy around us, we captured one more EVP for our time in this area.
Old Tennent Church #3 EVP #6 - You hear the tail end of our discussion and a couple of seconds after you hear Amy mention he doesn't have a lot of "juice", you hear the male voice, just before Gabby finishes off the clip. It sounds like he is saying "Toss". Is this Michael Erickson saying "Toss"? Of course whoever is saying it, what do they want us to toss?
After another 10-15 minutes in the area, there were some more visitors coming in, some which seemed to take an interest in what were doing, so we decided to leave the area to avoid more possible contamination. So we headed off the cemetery grounds to the top of a hill where I conducted a great spirit box session on my first trip here and got amazing results.
Top of the hill just off the cemetery
grounds and the beginning of a hiking path onto Monmouth Battlefield.
We made a quick stop at the cars to gather the rest of the equipment as we would be more flexible off the cemetery grounds to bring everything into play. Trigger objects, Mel-Meters, spirit box, basically the works. We did capture one EVP walking up to the area, but it was too faint and the crackle of the leaves washed a lot of it out.
After we got to the top of the hill, I realized I left one last piece of equipment in the car, the wooden "table top" I made from thin plywood to use on a camera tripod as a quick set up table to place trigger objects on. As I ran back to the car, I left the audio recorder running with the group. While gone, Amy had mentioned about seeing a tree with yellow butterflies in it. There was a tree that somebody had placed artificial butterfly props into the tree. While the group was discussing it, the Ovilus 4 said the word "Moth". Right after this the group captured this EVP.
Old Tennent Church #3 EVP #7 - The group is having a laugh about moth vs butterfly. Gabby asks out loud if it is her spirit friend "Michael" who is playing around. A few seconds later a distinct female voice softly says "No". Clearly not the voice of anybody in the group.
Old Tennent Church #3 EVP #8 - About a minute later the group is still having a laugh. After you hear somebody say "yahoo", there is the female voice again asking "Where to go?". Just to note, on the way up here, we did call out to the spirits that we would be setting up a crossing circle so we could help them cross into the light. So is this spirit asking where to go in regards to crossing into the light?
After I returned with the makeshift table top, I was showing how to convert a broken tripod into a field table when there was a faint voice that says "Yes", though I was not sure if that was a spirit or Brian or Ian saying "yes" in agreement in a soft voice, so I tossed that as possible evidence.
On the path behind us, I set up the Paramid (directional motion sensor) and flags of the Colonies and the British on each side of the unit. We would ask if the spirits with us had a particular allegiance to either country, they could go stand by their flag. This was in hopes they would set off the Paramid and identify their side.
Paramid sensor with British flag on the
left and Colonial flag on the right. The Paramid has a motion
sensor on each side at a 45 degree angle. If motion is detected,
an alarm will sound off with distance and direction measured on the front of
the unit. Max distance is 4 feet on each side.
While setting this up and explaining it to the spirits, we capture a male spirit giving us his name.
Old Tennent Church #3 EVP #9 - At the 6 1/2 second mark, you will hear the EVP. It is after I am in the middle of talking about the flags and sensor. Upon being amplified, the EVP sounds like he is saying "Patrick". As readers of my first trip here will remember, I did catch a Class A EVP of a male voice saying "Patrick" and was told by the spirit box they they had crossed over a "Patrick".
After a little more EVP session (no results), we decided to move on to do a spirit box session. As were getting ready to start, Amy could sense a horseshoe of spirits at the bottom of the hill, patiently waiting for us to begin so we could move on towards performing a crossing circle to help the spirits cross. We had been calling out that the time was coming and if they wanted to finally leave and cross into the light, join us up on the hill. Several of us could feel the energy in the area building up, but not the crazy energy we encountered when we went to Rose Hill earlier in the year. There the spirit energy in anticipation of our crossing circle was crazy. This felt more calm.
So we started off the P-SB7 spirit box session, we were getting the impression of a John or a William up there with us. Instead we get another name to start!
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #1 - Here I am asking for the name and instead of John or William, we get "Ben". Notice also the accent as the name is said too. This is followed a second later by another voice also saying "Ben". Two different voices, does this mean two different Bens?
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #2 - About 30 seconds later, we get a group of 3 names. Two seconds into the clip is the name "Bob". At seven seconds, "Matt" comes through and as soon as I acknowledge the name "Matt", another male voice says "Skip".
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #3 - Moving forward another minute, now "Patrick" comes through followed by the obligatory calling of my name from the spirit box!
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #4 - We are getting a lot of names and there is not that we cannot make out because of chatter overlapping. As I am trying to ask Patrick a question, the name "Darren" is said when I am talking. I ask how many spirits are here. At the 6 second mark there is a male voice that says "thanks" followed by what sounds like "Kristen"! Then just a couple of seconds later, somebody says "10", which we all heard.
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #5 - Now about 5 minutes into the clip, you hear a female voice say "One", followed by a male voice that says "Two". So I count one, two and after I say two, a male voice says "Three!" I asked what comes after 3 at the end, but no further number counting!
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #6 - This is the obligatory curse we get now and then when doing a spirit box session. You hear a female voice say "Weather" followed by another female saying "horse" and the male quickly following up with "S--t". Then the name Michael is said again, which we hear. The name Michael was said earlier, but had a lot of static in it.
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #7 - Here we get good news, "Horace is back"! LOL! Whatever that means, I don't recall a 'Horace" joining us, but somebody let us know he was back with us. Ends with a quick voice saying "hear me" and then "Matt" again.
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #8 - We are discussing something we thought we heard when "Matt" pops up again! At the very end, very faintly, a female voice calls out "Gabby". The "Gabby" is replayed twice at the end with a little amplification to hear it better.
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #9 - I am asking who the female spirit is that said hey to me the night before. In the middle of me speaking, a voice says "Ray" and the hear is "Matt" again! That is the 4th time he has said his name for those keeping score at this point!
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #10 - We are discussing how the name "Matt" is coming through a lot, so I ask if he joined us to cross into the light. He responds with a straight forward - "No".
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #11 - As we are getting down to the last few minutes of the session, this clip starts off with a male voice saying "Garvey". This voice did come out earlier. I ask if somebody can tell us how many spirits want to cross into the light. The older female voice replies, "eighty......eight"! The "88" is replayed three times at the end!
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #12 - After typical P-SB7 noise during the session, this female voice greets us with a "Hi", which we all heard and suspected it had a bit of an accent to it too.
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #13 - As I am announcing another 2 minutes left in the session, when I finish speaking we get the English male responding with "Cheers!" So if I am a skeptic of all this, exactly how would I calculate the odds, of a male with an English accent giving me a typical English goodbye just as soon as I finish saying we will soon be signing off, that is nothing but radio bleed through and total coincidence?
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #14 - Amy has just asked if the butterflies she saw was a sign for her. I repeat the question and get the puzzled response "What?". Like the spirit was completely baffled by the question. We hear this and laugh, somebody says guess not in the back ground. The clip ends with another voice saying "Cheers", replayed twice at the end.
Old Tennent Church #3 GB #15 - Asking if anybody wants to ask anything, I invite Kristen up to see if she can make contact with her mom. While she is walking over, this soft male voice says "Angel" followed by a female voice that says "Hi" just before Kristen speaks. There was no response afterward, but it is voices that come through as she walks up to the spirit box that are interesting. "Angel" and "Hi" replayed at the end twice each.
There was some little snippets here and there for the last few minutes, but nothing that really stood out.
Most of us then gathered to do our crossing circle where we focus our energy into creating a one way portal into the light for the spirits to go into. I had placed the audio recorder into the center of the circle to record, but I must have miss hit the record button, so I have no idea if there were any voices speaking to us. We caught a "thank you" at Rose Hill Cemetery, but for this time around no idea.
Amy, myself, Ian, Gabby, Carole, Andrea
and Doreen creating the healing / crossing circle.
Unlike the bull rush we felt at Rose Hill, the spirits that came to the crossing circle were sensed by Amy to be more orderly, like how people would have walked to church in the 1700's. Like having a proper stroll. We could feel the energy pick up as they were crossing over.
After about 10-15 minutes, we closed up the circle after feeling that all the spirits that wanted to cross had done so. Immediately afterward, we were going to do a water scrying session on the hill for the spirits that had no intention of crossing over. While we were getting ready, Amy and I both had looked up and noticed something interesting right above us in the sky.
A hole in the clouds had opened up that was not there earlier, right above where we were. Coincidence? May. I also find it pretty coincidental that just to the northeast direction of the circle the clouds have formed to look like the profile of a female face with eyes closed. Yes that is matrixing of the clouds, but again quite a coincidence to have something almost angelic looking there too!
We finished off with all of us taking turns doing the water scrying, 30 seconds each. The sky was pretty much white puffy cotton ball clouds at that point, minus this quick break in the sky as seen above. I am still working on the 9000+ still frames I have to go through to see what we might have captured. When I finish I will post some of the best here and the rest will go into Youtube video.
But during the session, we did capture one more EVP. when Carole was just finishing up her turn.
Old Tennent Church #3 EVP #10 - You hear me finish, the camcorder beeps off and the end of the clip, you hear a female voice saying something, but I cannot make out what she is saying. "Let's look in"? "It's not in?" Can't tell.
With that, it was time to wrap up the day. After our amazing chance to go and spend some time inside the Old Tennant Church, the EVPs and Spirit Box clips that we caught, I would have to say we had a pretty successful day. It was a first time investigation for a few folks, a few for their first cemetery investigation and it was about what I expected. We will definitely try to set up a return trip here in 2016 and see if Matt, Cookie, Garvey, Michael and the female spirits who communicated with us are still around and if so, what can we do to help them!
