Bethel Investigation
Location:  Walnut Hill Rd. Bethel Connecticut
Time or Date:  8:00PM January 24, 1998
Investigators: Orlando Ferrante, John Helstosky, Gary Husveth, Rob Manouse, Brian Kryzanski
Equipment Used: VHS Recorder, Cassette Recorder, (2) 35 mm Cameras (with flash), Digital Camera, EMF Detectors, and Digital Thermometer

Overview: This investigation was conducted on January 24, 1998 in a quiet Bethel residence which was purchased in the spring of '97. The house dates as far back as 1917 and had been vacant 4 years prior to the current owners purchase. The couple decided to "gut" and remodel the entire house which consumed the entire Summer & Fall. Based on what the current owner know about the history of the house is that the woman who previously lived in it was not mentally stable and was institutionalized. There is an old cemetery about 100 yards before the house. 
 
Investigation:  We all arrived at about 8:00 PM and immediately took some pictures of the outside. Then we met with the couple and conversed for a while as we setup our equipment. I had previously interviewed the couple a couple of weeks back and decided to do it again with video and audio rolling. Oddly enough, the NEW battery I picked up for my Camcorder died when starting the video camera. It had been charging all day. I switched it to auxiliary power. We sat in their living room for about an hour or so interviewing them and listening to their experiences in the home. Some of the disturbances have been while they were remodeling. They claim that at least three different people heard what sounded like foot steps and objects move above them while conversing about their work during that day. The walls were all gutted at this time and it was easy to hear everything in the house. The female homeowner claims she saw a male apparition for a brief moment then just disappear. Some other encounters included Stereo equipment turning on while they were out for the day. They came home to find that the stereo was on with the volume on at it's maximum level. Another incident occurred with the stove and other appliances abnormally malfunctioning. one time a guest was over and all three of them heard their door knocker slam the door as if someone was at the door doing it. This happened numerous times.
   
We also learned that the male homeowner has had previous encounters with strange paranormal activity. One of his experiences involved an encounter with an entity at the famous Connecticut site of Dudley Town. He says that some years back, he and some friends had been intrigued about the strange occurrences at Dudley Town and decided to go there and use a Ouija to possibly communicate with whatever was there. During the attempt, the male home owner said they all witnessed a woman dressed in old fashioned clothes and on horseback, warning them to get out and off the property. The people there, including the male homeowner, were taunting and making fun of her as she left. Later, everyone felt they had witnessed an apparition and decided it was time to leave.
   
After about an hour or so, we decided to shoot some film while we took a look around. Brian and I were intrigued by this room which was adjacent to the living room. It had previously been some sort of study with lots of books and now is just a room for the homeowner's gun collection. Brian and I both had a luring feeling to this area but weren't too sure why. We snapped some pictures in this room and continued to other areas of the house. We were taking temperature and EMF readings all over the house but did not find any abnormal readings. We didn't witness anything unusual either. We decided to have a communication session in the living room with all lights and appliances off and cameras rolling. For about an hour we tried to communicate asking what ever was there to answer our questions with "knocks". But there was no reply. Finally towards the end of the session, I was asking if there was anyone with us and John Helstosky was monitoring the temperature in the room, noticed the temperature was dropping a steady .8 degrees every 30-45 seconds (I must also mention that we requested the heat be turned off 15-20 minutes prior due to noises of expansion causing confusion of responses to questions being asked). I continued to ask questions and the drop continued. After about 4-5 minutes, I asked one more time if anyone was with us in the same room and then we all heard a noise in the kitchen. the male homeowner stood and said that the door in the kitchen which led to an adjacent room had opened. We all heard the latch of the door release and the door creaked open. temperature in the room had stopped dropping and leveled off at 71 degrees. The male homeowner got up to investigate, and he said that the door in the adjacent room had also opened 8 inches. So, both doors opened. What was strange was that both doors opened INTO the same room. We all examined it and found it to be very strange and not supportive of a draft possibly opening one door causing the next door to open. Although, ventilation of the house will be further investigated.
 
Findings: After expending 3 rolls of 35 mm film and about 15 exposures from the Digital Camera, we only came up with one possible photo containing Psychic Ectoplasm. It was shot by myself when we first pulled up to the house and there seems to be a bluish area of psychical energy to the right of the picture which has gotten cut off by the lens. The video tape disclosed a possible "tapping" on the MIC of the camcorder while the communication session took place. As mentioned above the opening of the door in the kitchen during the communication session startled everyone in the room, and when we played back the video camera, we can clearly hear the latch click open and the door creek. But, the tape is still being examined and there is nothing conclusive as of yet. The other audio sources showed no strange anomalies.
 
Our Opinion:  We discussed the night among ourselves and we are convinced that despite the lack of hard evidence, there may be a disturbance occurring there. The couple seemed to be level headed people and their stories matched on at least 2 different occasions. The puzzling thing that remains is the opening of the kitchen door which was clearly heard on the video tape. The temperature drop could have been due to the heat being turned off, but I am curious as to why it did not start to drop until at least 15-20 after they shut it off, and why did it drop only about 4 degrees and level off after the door opened? These questions I'm afraid we'll never know the answers to. A follow up visit to the house is scheduled for mid to late March. We'll keep you posted.