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Posted on
Mon, Oct. 15, 2007
A spirited
stroll into city's past
S. Jersey
ghost-hunters say voices, orbs were abundant.
Susan Bové,
looking to
scare up
some
nightlife in
Philadelphia's
Laurel Hill
Cemetery,
points her
camera in
the air. The
researchers
say they
photographed
several orbs
floating in
the
moonlight.
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By Edward Colimore
Inquirer Staff Writer
At twilight, a team of
investigators gathered up cameras and recording equipment and headed to work
amid the carved obelisks, mausoleums and brooding statues of Philadelphia's
Laurel Hill Cemetery.
They stopped
at the headstone of Maurice Fagan, a Civil War veteran and lawyer who
fatally shot himself on his gravesite in 1899.
They visited
the headstone of Mary Peterson, whose heart was interred with her first
husband - and whose body was buried with her second.
And they
paused at an impressive sculpture of a reclining lion over the graves of two
Civil War generals - father and son - Francis and Robert Patterson.
Among a Who's
Who of dead Philadelphians, including generals, literary figures,
industrialists and politicians, the small company looked for signs of life.
For six years,
Susan Bové, founder of the nonprofit South Jersey Paranormal Research, and
other members of the group have recorded what they say are voices, human
apparitions and floating orbs in photographs and on audio recordings at
cemeteries and historic sites in seven states.
They've
collected paranormal evidence at the Burlington County Prison, site of many
public hangings; the Plank House in Marcus Hook, home of Blackbeard's
mistress; the battleship New Jersey; and a radio station in Manahawkin.
And on their
first visit to Laurel Hill, the investigators found what they say is more
proof of a spirit world. Turns out the cemetery is not so dead at all after
the sun goes down - if you believe the paranormal researchers' findings.
Several
digital photos the researchers took with flashes showed what they call orbs
floating over the sloping moonlit necropolis. A few were captured after one
of the researchers said she sensed a presence and asked another to take her
picture.
Sensitive
digital recorders picked up what sounds like voices, though the researchers
and a reporter who was with them in the cemetery didn't hear them at the
time.
To Bové, the
recordings are clear. She can hear one of the voices say, "Help me!" Another
disembodied male voice shrieks loudly. Male and female voices, she says,
held this conversation:
"Emily," says
the male voice.
BOB WILLIAMS / For The Inquirer
Laurel Hill Cemetery, the resting place of notable Philadelphians, is set along the Schuylkill. A group of paranormal researchers from South Jersey went in with cameras and recorders.
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"Yes," says a
female voice.
"Speak to me,"
says the male.
Ghost-hunter
groups have been photographing what they say are orbs and apparitions and
recording what sounds like disembodied voices for years - evidence, they
say, of an active spirit world.
Many
scientists consider the images flukes of photography, and the recordings as
background noise - all useless scientifically.
Bové, 45, of
Glendora, began the paranormal group in 2001 after "growing up in a haunted
house in Oaklyn. My mother still lives there. My sisters and I were always
curious and started an organization. It's not your average hobby."
As she weaved
among the headstones at Laurel Hill, Bové said she felt the energy of the
place. Around her were the graves of Thomas McKean, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence; David Rittenhouse, astronomer and inventor;
Hugh Mercer, a Revolutionary War brigadier general; and Henry Disston, a
business magnate.
Thirty-one
Civil War generals, including George Gordon Meade, the Union hero of
Gettysburg, also are there, along with Benjamin Hodgson, a soldier killed at
the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and six Titanic passengers.
"It's really
amazing," Bové said. "Some places have a pulse. Ironically, cemeteries
have a pulse, too."
The group of
seven investigators was guided by Laurel Hill's executive director, Ross L.
Mitchell, who provided a history of the cemetery's occupants while
describing the meaning of grave-marker carvings.
"Ivy
represents eternal life," he told the researchers. "A broken urn means
somebody met a violent death. A broken column is a life cut short. And a
drape over the top of the stone is a mourning symbol."
Mitchell has
worked at the cemetery day and night for years and toured it with other
paranormal investigators.
"But I've
never experienced anything. Maybe I'm not tuned in," he said, adding that
the staff also has not witnessed paranormal activity.
"I don't know
what to think of the orbs. I've never seen anything like that. The sound is
pretty convincing, but I don't know the process after it [the recording]
leaves the cemetery."
Mitchell
paused at one grave and looked down.
"Here's the
first person who was buried here," he said, trying to make out the headstone
of Mercy Carlisle, who died Oct. 19, 1836.
With the sun's
light gone, the researchers hoped to photograph apparitions and orbs, and to
record electronic voice phenomena, also known as EVPs, which can't always be
heard by visitors.
Some
paranormal investigators believe orbs are associated with supernatural
activity. Others think they are more likely dust or moisture on the camera
lens and can appear in digital photographs taken almost anywhere. Some
ghost-hunters no longer accept orb pictures.
EVPs,
according to paranormal investigators, are voices of spirits. Audio experts
say they are more likely ambient sounds or noises made by poor-quality
recording equipment.
Bové, after
she and others reviewed the audio recordings made at Laurel Hill, said an
EVP was unmistakable. Several recorders were operating at the same time, and
raw recordings are compared with one another, along with photos and other
evidence that were taken at the same time, she said.
"Although a
couple of us were talking, this voice was clear among our voices," Bové
said.
She said the
voice of a young boy, possibly with a British accent, says, "See, Prince?
They're moving."
With the
background chatter of crickets and the hum of traffic nearby, the
investigators continued through the forest of stone, stopping briefly at
Mary Peterson's grave. Then it was on to a brownstone sculpture of a broken
urn, marking the grave of Robert Stewart, killed in 1858 by his hot-tempered
Jamaican valet.
Nearby was a
marble sarcophagus - topped by a sculpted eagle - at the grave of Isaac
Hull, captain of the USS Constitution - "Old Ironsides" - during the War of
1812.
"I saw an
orb," said one of the investigators, Sherri Halpin, 33, of Oaklyn, as she
walked near the graves of the Civil War generals, Francis and Robert
Patterson.
More pictures
were snapped.
The group
walked past Meade's grave, overlooking the Schuylkill, to Millionaire's Row,
a grouping of multimillion-dollar mausoleums housing the remains of the
city's past movers and shakers.
And there,
paranormal investigator Karen Spring, 35, of Deptford, said she sensed
Karen Spring of
Deptford reads
between the lines
for clues. She said
she sensed the group
was being followed
by a shadowy figure.
"There's nothing
malevolent," Spring
said. "It's just
curiosity."
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the group
being followed by a shadowy figure named Leonard in a black hat and long
coat. Bové said Spring has psychic abilities that allow her to see spirit
beings with her mind's eye.
"There's
nothing malevolent," Spring said. "It's just curiosity."
Photos were
taken, the time recorded - and orbs showed up in the photos taken at the
same moment. Most of the pictures taken during the night were clear, and the
few showing orbs were often accompanied by other evidence, either EVPs or
chilly areas, indicating a paranormal presence, Bové said.
At one point
during the night, investigator John Kurkis, 39, of Deptford, recorded what
sounds like a loud male scream, and another researcher, Al Agar, 43, of
Sicklerville, captured what Bové said were a few words.
According to
Bové, one man whispers, "Yeah," followed by a louder man saying, "Boring!
Boring!"
"We almost
always come back with something," said Bové, who receives a report from each
investigator.
The findings
are eventually posted on the group's Web site:
www.sjpr.org.
The
investigations are free to clients, who receive a CD compilation of all the
reports.
Some of what
the group records surprised even Bové for their salty, four-letter nature.
An adults-only
subscription area of the site has been added for foul-mouthed spirits from
places such as the Plank House, where a woman is heard uttering an
obscenity.
At Laurel
Hill, after taking a break and heading back into the cemetery, Halpin said
she felt a shiver, and it wasn't the night chill.
Bové snapped
some photos that, when checked later, showed they were not alone, Bové said.
Orbs were in the photographs floating around Halpin.
"For this, you
have to have a passion," Bové said. "Wandering through a cemetery or a
historic site is just the start. Once you get home, that's when the real
work begins. It never gets old for me."
_________________________________________________________________
Contact staff writer
Edward Colimore at 856-779-3833 or
ecolimore@phillynews.com. To comment, or to ask a question, go to
http://go.philly.com/askcolimore.
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BOB WILLIAMS
/ For The
Inquirer