Smyrna Museum and Plank House

Delaware Ghost Hunters Investigation Report:

Smyrna Museum 

On September 16th, 2011 Delaware Ghost Hunters conducted a private paranormal investigation of the Smyrna Museum and the adjacent Plank House located at: 11 South Main St. Smyrna De, 19977.  Our investigation began at 7PM and concluded at 11PM.  The Lead Investigator on the investigation was Kyle Herring and the acting Technical Manager was Colin McManus.  DGH Paranormal Investigators present were Faith Chermak, Mike Wolfer, Lou Migliore, Stacey Daly, and Darrell Louder.

Walk-Through:

Prior to the investigation Delaware Ghost Hunters conducted a walk through of the location to establish a baseline of readings on a variety of measurements.  We record the average temperature and EMF level of each room.  We also establish areas where appliances and/or outlets may be causing a natural increase in electromagnetic fields.  This is done in order to create a control reading for when investigating.  With these readings we can better determine whether a spike in a measurement is paranormal or a natural and regularly occurring phenomenon.  Listed below is the baseline results for our walk-through:

1st Floor:  Avg. Temp: 70 degrees

Avg. EMF reading: 0.0mG

Avg. outlet and appliance discharge: 0.0mG

2nd Floor: Avg. Temp: 73 degrees

Avg. EMF reading: 0.0mG

Avg. outlet and appliance discharge: 0.0mG

Plank House: Avg. Temp. 64.6 degrees

Avg. EMF reading: 0.0mG

Avg. outlet and appliance discharge: N/A

Investigation:

For the investigation DGH set up and used several pieces of equipment to measure, and hopefully record paranormal activity.

Stationary Equipment:

-A stationary camera was set on the second floor.  The camera was places at the far end of the hallway filming towards the stairs.  Beginning at 7:40pm the camera was set to record all night long and was later reviewed.

-A stationary digital recorder was placed outside in the Plank House.  The recorder was set to continuously record at 7:57pm and was later reviewed.

Roaming Equipment:

Each investigator carried their own array of equipment with them as we investigated each room of the museum.  This equipment included:

-  Digital voice recorders

-  RT-EVP systems

-  K2 meters

-  Tri-Field meters

-  Digital EMF detectors

-  Laser Grids

-  Digital Thermometers and temperature gauges

-  Digital still and video cameras

-  Mel meters

Investigation Technique:

For the investigation we broke of into 3 investigative teams.  The teams rotated through the 1st floor, 2nd floor, and Plank House spending a set amount of time in each location.  Towards the end of the investigation we reconvened and discussed our personal experiences.  After this we decided to investigate the attic as a group based on one teams personal experiences there.  After the investigation all audio and visual evidence collected was reviewed and subjected to DGH’s rigorous review process before being confirmed or denied.

Evidence:

Personal Experiences:

Over the course of our investigation we had a some personal experiences while investigating and some of those experiences we are able to back up with captured EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) and audio evidence. The Delaware Ghost Hunters believe the location’s attic to possess the most activity, having experienced more activity in there than any other location of the museum.

During our investigation one of our teams of investigators had a “personal experience” while investigating.  These are seemingly unexplained occurrences observed by our paranormal investigators but were not captured or documented by our equipment.  Below is a summary of this event:

-A team of two investigators headed into the attic, as the house seemed to be producing very little activity at the time. They climbed the stairs and sat side by side to the right of the attic entrance, with the one end of the attic wall behind them (by about 4 feet). Within 10-15 minutes of being in the attic, they started to hear ‘noises’ from the far end of the attic. This culminated to, what sounded like, a metal air duct being banged/dragged. Upon investigation, there was nothing on the opposite end of the attic that would make such a sound.  The sounds were documented in culmination with the personal experience leaving us to conclude the experience “unexplained” but lacking sufficient hard evidence to be deemed “paranormal”.

Recorded Evidence

-During our walk-through of the location we experienced an EMF spike in the middle of a room on the 1st floor, but because the investigation had not commenced and several variables, such as power to the building, were still uncontrolled we cannot submit it has hard evidence.

-One of our investigators captured and EVP in the attic that sounded like a deep breath that was not identified as either investigator in the room.  Upon review, it was determined that the noise heard was under the frequency of a human voice, however, due to noise contamination at the time the origin of the noise can not be confirmed as paranormal or a natural noise from outside traffic at the time of the recording.

*DGH did capture 2 EVPs that we have deemed unexplainable and possibly paranormal.*

-In the far back room of the basement, two investigators were asking questions. After the male investigator says, “If you’d like us to go, just… Just tell us,” a distinct, whispered reply is heard, just before the female investigator present laughs and makes a comment.  The replay does not match either investigator present and the origin of the sound could not be determined.

Response 1

-Two of our investigators were in the dining room. After the male investigator says, “That’ll let us know that you’re here,” a distinct, whispered reply is immediately heard and again the voice captured does not match either investigator present in the room.  The response was not heard live by the investigators but was found later on the digital recorder.

Response 2

 Summary:

         After conducting our investigation Delaware Ghost Hunters has concluded that given the types of activity encountered and the amount of collaborative evidence obtained DGH believes The Smyrna Museum and Plank House to possess evidence of paranormal activity and requires further investigation to confirm a haunted status.  DGH hopes to conduct further investigations with the Smyrna Museum, both private and public in order to further determine its haunted status.