The Keffer family is a Mennonite family living in Chesapeake, Virginia. The Mennonite religion doesn’t include belief in hauntings.
Bobbie Atristain, a Virginia TAPS family member, called Jason and Grant to help out the Keffer family with their paranoraml experiences. She had investigated the Keffer house before. She told TAPS the Mennonite community doesn’t understand what the Keffer family is experience. Wife and mother Kimberlie has even been accused of witchcraft.
The Keffers’ pre-Civil War home was demolished and a new home rebuilt on the same foundation. Perhaps the renovations stirred up the spirits?
Kimberlie reported seeing a petite woman dressed in Victorian clothing in the house. Kimberlie’s friend Nilla Harris said one day she smelled cloves in the house. “It’s the ghost,” Kimberlie told her. Kimberlie heard the sound of a man walking through the hallway one night. It sounded like he was walking on a hardwood floor but the hallway is carpeted.
One night Kimberlie saw a Confederate soldier in the hallway. A faucet in her bathroom went on by itself. Garry, Kimberlie’s husband, saw the blinds in their bedroom going up and down but no one was there to pull the cord. Kimberlie saw a woman standing by her bedside lamp, attempting to blow it out like a candle. The woman looked at Kimberlie, then was gone. Kimberlie also mentioned a couple of dolls in the house have had “issues.” Jason told her he was hopeful they could help.
Jason and Grant started with checking out the bathroom faucet. It was very difficult to turn on with their own hands, so they were stumped as to how it would have turned on by itself. When they walked into the play room Grant immediately let out a “What the frig?” A toy bus sitting on top of the entertainment center fell off right next to him. He said he remembered seeing it on the tour of the house. There was a 1 1/2 - 2 inch lip on top of the entertainment unit, so the toy would have actually have to have lifted up and over the lip in order to fall the way it did. It was also next to another toy that would have to be moved in order for the toy bus to fall.
Brian and Bonnie started out in the living room. Bonnie made mention of “Mr. Tweed,” the figure of a man seen in a tweed jacket in the living room. Brian saw some dolls sitting on a chair. He said when he was a kid he saw a horror movie about dolls and it scared him. “I don’t do dolls,” he said. They went into the bedroom and did some EVP work, trying to provoke “Mr. Big Cheese,” another spirit reported by the family. The EMF detector went nuts when Brian put it near Kimberlie’s alarm clock. He wondered if maybe she was experiencing hypersensitivity from the clock.
Jason and Grant were using the thermal. They saw something in the glass door of the grandfather clock. It wasn’t their reflections.
Kimberlie and Bonnie placed a strange-looking doll in a chair in the living room. They asked for one of the guys to come in. Steve ended up making Brian go. He said if the doll turned its head and winked at him he’d wet his pants. The dolls weren’t cooperative that night. Kimberlie and Bonnie reported the doll’s facial expressions were known to change, her pupils dilated and her face appeared bruised.
Kimberlie thanked TAPS for coming out. She said she felt they were both professional and caring.
Brian and Steve reviewed the evidence. The thermal in the grandfather clock turned out to be Jason’s reflection after all. Steve heard an EVP and there were some sounds thumping in the attic. A voice was heard three times before the toy bus fell near Grant. He never heard the voice, just the toy sliding and then falling to the floor. Another EVP was caught just before Kimberlie spoke. It sounded like a child.
At the reveal Jason and Grant said they had no explanation for the faucet turning on by itself. Grant told Kimberlie about the toy bus falling from the entertainment center. She asked about the sound before the toy fell. She said when she was sitting on the sofa she’s heard the same voice whispering in her ear. It sounded like a man saying, “I am calling you.”
The EVP recorded before the chair with the doll was being set up was unrecogniable and Kimberlie hadn’t heard it before. She said the family has gotten used to the sounds in the attic.
Jason said he hoped the evidence they found would help Kimberlie and her family with their community. He and Grant both agreed there was something there. Grant assured her they are in no danger from the spirits. Kimberlie said she feels secure in her home. She said the Mennonite community “doesn’t understand but that’s okay.” She said she was glad Bobbie called TAPS.
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Steve headed up an investigation by himself for the first time as Jason and Grant weren’t able to make it.
Karilee Dahl, the general manager of the General Stanton Inn in Charlestown Rhode Island, said the building was constructed in 1667. The inn was first a schoolhouse. A visitor saw something in the corner of the Washington Room. While taking pictures in the Washington and Williamsburg Rooms Karilee felt three distinct taps on her shoulder.
In the Williamsburg Room server Jenny Christensen saw a man dressed in brown pants, a white shirt, suspenders and a brown hat. He quickly disappeared.
Room 5 has a door that leads to the attic. An employee went to get a mannequin out of the attic and thought someone threw a mannequin finger at him. Thinking it was one of his coworkers playing a joke he looked around but no one else was there.
Donna thought Steve did a great job getting everything set up. I agree with her. Steve is very level-headed and thinks very much like Jason and Grant do.
In the cemetery Brian Harnois and Steve found General Stanton’s grave and that of his wife. While they were doing EVP they heard twigs snapping around them. The thermal imaging camera showed there weren’t any animals around and no other people. Every time they said the General’s name they heard twigs snapping.
Dustin and Tango thought they saw something in the Indian Room but it could have been a reflection. Dustin went outside and walked past the window; Tango could easily see his shadow passing by. This may be what others have seen in the room. They both agreed Steve was doing a good job.
Brian and Mike Dion went into the attic. “Come on sucka, do somethin’!” Brian yelled at the spirits. They saw a heat signature on the thermal that appeared and disappeared very quickly. It wasn’t a person or an animal. Mike went to check on the chair where they saw the signature. There was no reflection and no shiny surfaces nearby. It was very strange it just disappeared so quickly; normally heat signatures fade out.
In the second floor hallway Tango heard a door open and close and the sound of someone walking. He expected to turn around and find someone there but no one was in the hallway. He tried to recreate the sound but couldn’t. He did identify it was coming from a door at the end of the hall furthest from him and hoped maybe it was caught on camera.
Karilee was pleased with the investigation and hoped the team caught some evidence.
Jason and Grant asked how things went and Steve was proud to say it was an excellent investigation. He told them about Tango’s experience in the hallway and the twigs snapping in the cemetery.
They caught an EVP of a voice in the attic. It sounded like a female child. A second EVP was caught in the attic of a woman humming. The thermal image of the chair was strange yet again. The chair had no back. The object causing the heat signature was about the size of a football. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
At the reveal, Steve, Jason and Grant met with Karilee. Steve told her about the team’s personal experiences. There was some speculation as to whether the noises in the cemetery were the General himself.
Karilee had never heard the voices on the EVPs but the first one she definitely thought was a child. She called the second one of the humming “interesting.” She also thought the thermal footage was interesting. she told the team the General’s daughter died at a young age. The thermal image was at about the height of a child.
Steve felt there was strong evidence of a haunting at the inn. Jason and Grant respected his decision and backed him up. Karilee said she’d be delighted if the team would come back. She was happy they were able to find some proof of the entities in the inn.
The General Stanton Inn. Image from Boston.com.
