pressherald - When Renee Alling and her team of paranormal investigators checked out the Readfield Historical Society last fall, they found something that begged another visit to the former schoolhouse, built in 1823.As they reviewed their audio recordings, Alling said, the investigative team detected a teacher delivering a grammar lesson and sounds of a chalkboard being cleaned.
In addition, some sort of occult force seemed to interfere with the team's walkie-talkies.
"When we listened to our recording," Alling said, "it sounded like footsteps walking toward us."
On Saturday, Alling and a different group she's founded, Everything Paranormal of New England, will return to the Readfield Historical Society, hoping to experience the same phenomena, learn more about them, and perhaps detect some new paranormal activity.
"This place is haunted," said Alling, who lives in Sanford.
Alling and six other investigators will set up audio recorders and cameras and stake out the historical society building Saturday night.
Florence Drake, the Readfield Historical Society president, will be especially interested in the investigation's outcome.
She and the society's board heard a presentation of paranormal evidence last fall, but Drake said many of the recordings weren't clear enough to discern exactly what was happening.
"Some of the spirits, or whatever they are, I'd like them to speak a little more clearly, more loudly and clearly," Drake said, "something I could play to our members and say, 'Here. This is going on.' "
While Drake said she's had paranormal experiences in the past, she's never had those experiences in the Readfield Historical Society building.
"There's nothing weird about this place at all," she said. "It was a nice school for 132 years."
Alling became interested in the paranormal when she and her family moved to Maine from Texas 11 years ago. They moved into a house built in 1900 and started noticing something was awry.
"My daughter's seen a little girl in her bedroom, dressed in Victorian clothes," Alling said, adding that her son has seen and heard his share of the metaphysical. "There's voices and stuff moving and unexplainable crap," she said.
The newfound interest in ghostly phenomena led Alling to join an investigators' group and, later, to found one of her own. Her investigations have taken Alling and her team to towns across Maine, where they've investigated private residences and historical buildings.
"I think it's great fun. It's wonderful," Drake said. "It lets people see a different angle, almost like parallel existences, in a nonthreatening way and in a nonsensational way."
Alling said the investigations seek to prove or disprove, and understand the spirits that might live in historical buildings.
"They're not going to hurt you," Alling said. "Most of the time, they're trying to communicate with you."
If the investigators turn up anything at the Readfield Historical Society, it will be a reflection of whatever took place in the building while it was a school.
"If anyone's here, it's just the kids and teachers," Drake said. "All they're going to get is rampant happiness, if they get anything."
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Paranormal Researchers and Investigators of Maine - Investigation of Readfield Historical Society
On October 17th, 2009, PRI-ME conducted an investigation at the Readfield Historical Society and Schoolhouse in Readfield Maine. The building was erected in 1823 and held a schoolhouse on the first level and a chapel on the second. When the chapel moved to the Union Meeting House in 1828, the second floor was converted into a classroom for the older students, making it a two-story schoolhouse.
Today, the building has been made into a museum, with the first level schoolroom restored. The majority of the exhibits are located on the second level, with a plethora of items which were used by Readfield residents long ago as well as old letters and notes from a variety of people. On the first floor, the schoolhouse holds an annual event named “A Day In A Rural Schoolhouse,” where children from a local school get to experience what it may have been like on a typical school day in the old building.
While there were no actual claims of paranormal activity in this building, we were excited to see if we could possibly catch some evidence of anything unexplainable. Nobody had been there late in the evening, when it is said that paranormal activity is most likely to occur. Also, some of the theories that exist claim that while a specific structure or land might not be haunted, items that are held within that space may hold some type of supernatural attachment. Certainly, Readfield would be a great place to test these theories out!
We set up two DVR cameras, one on the first level and the other on the second. Also, we placed stationary voice recorders on each level. Each of us had a voice recorder which we carried with us throughout the investigation and Louie had a handheld camera which he took with him.
Due to the location of the building and general noises made by the investigators, it was difficult to listen for any unexplained noises while we were on the location. A few times, we thought that we had heard a bump or bang, but these random noises could be explained as car doors closing or traffic. However, upon review of our equipment, we were able to pick up a few unexplainable voices which we are certain were not made by any of us or other outside contamination. During setup, one of the stationary recorders on the first level picked up a barely audible voice that sounds like it could be female. The words are difficult to distinguish, but the voice is there, nonetheless. During the investigation, a recorder picked up another barely audible voice that seems to be saying either “no” or “hello.” During a break, a few of us were having a conversation on the first level. At this time, we were able to catch a voice which sounds like someone whispering “quiet.” The last clear one that we caught happened during our final EVP session at the end of the investigation. We are not sure of what is being said, but the voice is unfamiliar to us.
While we were able to get some possible evidence of paranormal activity through our digital voice recorders, we believe that this evidence does not provide us with enough proof to determine that the Readfield Historical Society is in fact haunted. The voices that we captured cannot be distinguished as either a residual or an intelligent haunt, nor did we capture any photographic or video evidence. It is certainly a place that is filled with very interesting history and artifacts, though! We are very thankful for the opportunity to investigate such a fascinating place and hope to stay in contact with the board of directors!
NOTE: Go to the PRI-ME.org investigation page, scroll down to EVP audio file...Lon
Sources:
www.pri-me.org
www.pressherald.com
www.rootsweb.ancestry.com
www.readfieldhistorical.com
EVPs of Classroom Activity Detected in 19th Century Maine Schoolhouse
