Kevin Tersavige, founder of the CPPRA and Kristeen Reynolds, a psychic with the organization, visited the home to discuss, along with Sauers, its rich history of paranormal activity.
The loud crashing noise, which could not be explained, sparked the curiosity of those gathered.
Tersavige said his group, which conducts an average of 50 studies a year on potentially haunted locations, has held multiple studies at the Packwood House. He said the museum is the top spot in the Susquehanna Valley for documented cases of paranormal activity.
As the three walked through the home recently, Sauers snapped multiple photos of empty rooms. In some of those photos, small round balls of light, which the three described as orbs, appeared that were not visible to the naked eye.
“I’ve been here almost five years,” Sauers said. “I always suspected the house was haunted. You felt like someone was looking at you.”
He said the museum, located on the corner of Market and Water streets in Lewisburg, has a rich history, dating back to the 1790s when a 35-by-35-foot log cabin was built on the property. In the late 1830s, the building was expanded and became the American House Hotel.
A third story was added to the building in 1868. George Kelly later purchased the building and converted it into apartments. George’s daughter, Edith, and her husband, John Fetherston, were the last to own the home.
John died in 1962, while Edith died in 1972. In accordance with their wills, a trust was established and the museum opened to the public in 1976.
According to Sauers, several people may have died in the home. He said documents left behind by Edith indicated she believed there was a murder on the third floor of the home at some point in its history.
“(Edith) said there are dark stains on the floor that she takes as blood stains,” Sauers said.
Edith also passed away in the home, in a room which is currently used as a library. As Sauers, Tersavige and Reynolds walked through the museum, Reynolds expressed the unique sense she got as she walked into the room where Edith had died.
“I’m relaxed in this room. I don’t feel there are any spirits,” Reynolds said, noting that wasn’t the case in the other rooms of the home.
“I’m afraid in every other part of this building,” she said “I feel (paranormal activity) all over this building.”
When members of the CPPRA first visited the Packwood House, they expected to encounter one entity in particular. However, they quickly found the entity in the home wasn’t what they expected.
“The initial thought was Edith Fetherston was the one in the house, and she may be,” Tersavige said. “Through our investigations, we found it’s John Fetherston here… There are multiple entities here.”
He said the most powerful evidence of John’s presence came in a photo that was taken inside the museum during a preliminary visit. The photo was taken as Sauers and Tersavige were standing next to a mirror in the room that had been John’s bedroom.
“In the photo, you see Rick, you see me and you see a third man,” Tersavige said.
That third man was an image in the mirror which strongly resembled John. In addition, Tersavige said psychic investigators have detected John’s presence. They’ve also detected a French soldier, an African-American woman and a young girl named Maria, who had worked at the American House Hotel.
Throughout their visit to the museum, Tersavige and Reynolds kept reflecting on the mysterious crashing noise which was heard from the entryway.
As the CPPRA conducts investigations at various locations, Tersavige said the investigators look for any plausible explanation for strange activity.
“We try to repeat some of the (mysterious) activity to see if it could be natural,” Tersavige said. “We have a few people (in the group) that are general contractors.”
He said the contractors are excellent at picking up things with a building that are natural structural occurrences.
“We rule out the normal. What’s left is the paranormal,” Tersavige said.
Pick up Standard Journal later this week as Tersavige highlights other haunted locations throughout the area and discusses more about what takes place as his team visits a location that is suspected to be haunted.
**********
from 7/29/2009
Psychics Coax Out Spirits in Central Pennsylvania Museum
DailyItem.com - A series of strange events left Packwood House Museum Executive Director Dr. Richard A. Sauers scratching his head. Turns out a specter may have found its way into the museum.“We’ve been told for years that the place is probably haunted,” Sauers said. “We’ve had psychics identify themselves after tours and tell us they notice things here and there.”
With years of rumors and psychics reporting findings in the museum, Sauers decided to take action. Who did he call? The Central Pennsylvania Paranormal Research Association.
“Every once in a great while I’ll feel something brush me, just to let me know they are there,” Sauers said. “I decided to find out for myself and called the Central Pennsylvania Paranormal Research Association.”
Maria the barmaid
The Packwood Museum originated as a log cabin in 1799. Throughout the 19th century, the cabin continued to grow as owners John and Edith Fetherston continued to add editions.
The continued growth transformed the once-small cabin into a tavern and hotel that acted as a resting place for people traveling and transporting goods along the Susquehanna River.
Upon entering the tavern portion of the museum during a visit, psychics immediately felt someone in the room. Dr. Sauers said one of the psychics, who has the ability to determine the layout of old rooms, identified the presence as an old barmaid who identified herself as Maria. Maria was described as just giving a casual greeting before leaving.
Mirrors aid the spirits
In two separate visits in the spring, the CPPRA stayed from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. and found a number of specters throughout the museum.
“Mirrors, according to what the psychics told me, tend to attract psychic energy,” Dr. Sauers said of the investigation. “Especially if the mirrors are facing one another. The psychics said it acts as a conduit to bring in spirits. There are a couple rooms with a lot of concentrated psychic energy. There are over 90 mirrors on display in the building.”
Sauers said Edith Fetherston was an avid mirror collector. He said John Fetherston showed himself during the first visit of the CPPRA, with the aid of mirrors.
Sauers and a researcher were standing in the room where John’s portait hangs, he said. Mirrors on either side of the room face each other and were reflecting the image of Sauers and the researcher.
Sauers said his reflection disappeared, and the spirit of John Fetherston appeared standing next to them.
Along with the healthy supply of mirrors, there are many instances of mirrors reflecting off of one another. The CPPRA informed Dr. Sauers this is an especially tempting for the spirits because it acts as a gateway for them to enter our world.
“We have one room where there are three sets of opposing mirrors,” Dr. Sauers said. “They found stuff up there and in a storage room where there are two opposing mirrors.”
For anyone worried about a possible encounter, the psychics have reassured Dr. Sauers that the spirits are friendly.
“According to the psychics they are all friendly ghosts,” Dr. Sauers said. “I’ve worked in haunted places before.”
Dr. Sauers experience with the paranormal happened when he worked in Wisconsin at another historical site.
“I’ve literally walked into a ghost one day in a hallway basement in Wisconsin,” Dr. Sauers said. “I was going down to check on some supplies we had stored. I walked into an ice-cold pocket of air that was probably five to six inches thick.”
Along with being startled and having the hair on his neck stand up, Dr. Sauers spoke out to the spirit and said, “ ‘The next time you see me coming, could you stay out of the way?’ When I came back five minutes later, it was gone.”
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