The House in Norwood: Investigative Summary

N. Reiter / L. L. Schillig

6 September 1999

BACKGROUND:

In July of 1999, contact was made with a young couple living in a large turn-of-the-century home in the Cincinnati suburb of Norwood. We were informed by Sarah and David Caldwell that for a great many years, ghostly phenomena had occurred in the house. The house is owned by David's grandparents, who live on the first floor. Sarah, David, and their two young boys live on the second story. David grew up in the house, and as a boy himself, remembered numerous occurrences of an unusual nature. Among these were:

• A mysterious figure seen lurking in the basement.
• Invisible shoves and pushes felt in one particular room.
• Poltergeist activity, including the spontaneous scattering of room objects
• Pictures flying off of the wall.
• Noises and footsteps heard from an unused third floor flat.
• In the years since Sarah and David have lived together in the house, these occurrences have continued.

As communication with Sarah continued, it was determined that little of the houses history before David's grandparents was really known. The only connection with a possible haunting cause is a widely told story that sometime in the 1920's to 1940's, a gang or organized crime related drive by shooting occurred, killing a man who was standing on the porch, as well as a young girl. Sarah, to date, has been unable to perform further library or neighborhood research on the property.

Arrangements were made to pay a late afternoon and evening visit to the Caldwell's home on 4 September, 1999. Accompanying LS and myself was Trevor Reiter. A fairly full assortment of our equipment was brought along (reference earlier case write-ups for listing of "standard" equipment).

The weather on the eve of our visit was almost unseasonably hot, in the mid 90°'s F. Humidity was moderate, and prevailing sky conditions were quite clear.

LS had not been told, by me, any of the history of the house, with respect to the "shooting". Upon our arrival, we met with Sarah and David, and chatted for a while in their living room. Following this, LS and I made a walk through of the property for general impressions. For convenience, we divided the property into four regions of interest. The order presented here is the order in which we initially walked through these areas:

• Sarah and David's second floor apartment.
• The ground floor entrance, and outside of the house, including yard area.
• The basement.
• The Third Floor, actually set up as a separate flat, but used by Sarah and David for storage and for David's composing and mixing studio.

The ground floor apartment is currently occupied by David's grand-parents. We did not visit any of this area, for courtesies' sake.

In order to gauge the history of the house and neighborhood a little better, Sarah took us on a short tour by car, of the surrounding blocks. In part, this was for helping to confirm or refute some of LS's psychic impressions about the house history.

Over the course of the evening, LS, Trevor, and I made occasional forays into the four regions listed above. Colour and BW photography was employed in all areas. LS spent considerable time, later in the evening, interviewing Sarah and David extensively about their experiences in the house, and personal histories.

We departed shortly before midnight.

The balance of this report is divided into two sections; a region by region summary of physical investigation results, and a summary by LS on her psychic and psychological impressions. We will then conclude with our overall view of the Norwood Case.

Physical Investigation Results:

The Second Floor:

There seemed to be little activity on the second floor, as registered by instruments. There did not appear to be any anomalies present in any photographs. The living room seemed to be the most energetically comfortable room for both LS and I.

There was one region of magnetic anomaly found. In the toy-room, just to the right hand side of the old unused faux fireplace was a location where the background ambient magnetic field level went up, about 10% without any immediate physical cause noted. This spot should be considered for corroboration and scrutiny.

There did not seem to be any locations of electrostatic gradient, except near the television, of course.

The Outdoor Areas and First Floor Entrance:

There were no photographic anomalies found in this area. LS did receive a number of intuitive impressions from the front porch area as well as the side of the house facing the driveway. These are recounted in LS's section.

The Basement:

The basement of the Caldwell house was similar to many basements in many large old houses; rough hewn, and eerie even without the presence of a ghost. I did not feel any odd sensations here, other than general claustrophobia, although LS records her intuitive observations. Space to move about was limited due to the large number of old bicycles and parts stored by David's grandfather for his flea market business.

The Third Floor:

Of all of the sections of the house, the third floor seemed to be the most curious, and the most active. A slight barometric pressure drop, compared to that on the second floor, was noted (29.125, down from 29.185).

A magnetic anomaly of about 15% over ambient was noted near the centre of the small room or nook off of the little kitchen area. This seems to also correspond with a location where Sarah claims a poltergeist type room "scattering" occurred a couple of years ago.

In the room nearest to the back of the house, where David's desk and two old stuffed chairs are, we found the only photographic anomaly of our expedition. In the photo, showing the chair closest to David's desk, a bright patch like a glare is seen near the top. We note that the room light, however, was not turned on at the time, nor is it even near the frame of the photo. This photo was taken with 400 speed colour film, with flash, from our small Bell and Howell camera.

LS records her impressions of the third floor, in the following section.

LS's Impressions and Dowsing Results (from the notebook of LS):

On this case, remote viewing was used prior to the visit. We had not explored this area of potential research in any detail on former cases. The decision was made to make this case a test model for this avenue of information gathering. If even remotely verifiably fruitful, it will be considered a first step in the development and training of these abilities.

Remote Impressions (Derived in the week before the investigation, at home):

A murder victim who resided at this home was a man by the name of John or Jack S. He was a thin man, balding brown hair, thick mustache, blue eyes and approximately 34 years of age. He is viewed wearing early 1900-1920s style clothing (vest, ankle high shoes). He is a cigar smoker. He is of upper middle class societal standing; however his financial position of a laborer is supplemented with illegal prohibition era activities. He is stern, tyrannical in nature.

He rules with a heavy hand and is probably an alcoholic.

This man's widow had a name that began with an "A" and was 3-4 syllables in length. She was called by her first and middle names. She was slight of build, attractive, and timid. She had long wavy chestnut hair. Her timidity made her cautious of her husband's moods and very protective of her children. I sensed an extremely close relationship with her brother, Patrick O'_____.

This marital union was complicated by ethnic differences. Both were Roman Catholic, however I sensed a mix of Irish & possibly Polish origins that caused extended family friction. Together, they had three children. The oldest child, a boy that I sense named Frank or Francis, was not older than ten at the time of his father's murder. Next is a girl that I sense the name Mary Catherine or Mary Louise. Finally, there is an infant son who is a Jr. to his father's name.

The events surrounding the death involve the outside murder of John, whose murder was a hit orchestrated by his brother-in-law, Patrick, in the fall of the year (early November?). I sense John's presence on the left side of the front of the house. This event was made to appear related to his illegal booze running, however the real motive involved adultery allegations. Patrick saw this as an opportunity to protect his sister from her husband's alleged philandering and to rid the family of this unaccepted character.

I sense that John was shot in the upper left chest, the bullet piercing the lung. He crawled into the house after being wounded and died during the next day or two. His wife moved out shortly after the estate was settled. The murderer was never identified. (The above remotely viewed information is attempting to be verified or refuted).

The site of the murder was viewed as such: brick home, outside steps leading to the second floor are located on the left hand side of the home (not there at the time of the murder), a bay window is on the right side of the home, double front doors, two chimneys, wraparound porch on the left side of the home, three windows on the front view of second and third floors, four windows on front view of first floor. A drawing was made. (The home is wooden, not brick; however the listed specifics in general were correct. My drawing, though, was not of a high degree of psychic exactness).

The following miscellaneous information was taken during this remote viewing session: The street has a tree name, a factory with a large brick furnace (possibly used to manufacture pottery), a building named St. Augustine and/or St. Florence, and the fact that there was once a fire on this street where homes had to be rebuilt. (The street's name is Ashland, and a home two doors down was recently gutted by fire and had to be restored. Other info is still being researched).

The degree to which specific information can be verified or refuted will determine how extensively this practice will be used in the future.

On-site Impressions:

A weak energy was sensed at the front left side of the house where I envisioned the murder.

This same energy seemed to run along the first two thirds of the left outside of the home. This energy was not as strong as I had hoped and I actually had very limited impressions on the site.

The basement level was fairly unimpressive, however I was drawn to a boarded up room.

We did not have access to the first floor where David's grandparents reside. (Paranormal activity is reported on this level, specifically the frequent movement of a framed photograph).

The second floor had two main areas of interest. The playroom had an area to the right of the fireplace that had a strong dowsable reading and felt somewhat menacing. (David noted that as a child, this had been his bedroom. The head of his bed was located in front of the fireplace. One night, he was awakened by a presence from the area of interest. This unseen presence punched him and he was thrown from the bed.)

The other area is in front of a fireplace in the master bedroom. This energy is different from that felt in the adjacent playroom. This presence had more of a fleeting dowsing response. I was not able to pick up specifics; however it still peeks my curiosity. (Sarah then indicated to me that this is where his son sees the "white man". Also, the living room had been subject to a decorative picture flying off the wall while David and Sarah were having a dis-agreement).

The third floor had an extreme heaviness in the area that had been converted to a kitchen. The closet off of the kitchen had such an oppressive energy emanating from it that I chose to not enter it. I sensed that this area had been used to lock someone in for punishment. A slight uneasiness was sensed in the front room. While sitting in the front area, I sensed a young girl wandering upstairs who I felt was the daughter of the murder victim. (Sarah and David indicated that the upstairs had the most activity. While a baby, his room adjacent to the kitchen had been ransacked within a few minutes of his family walking out of it.

Interviews:

After scanning the home, Sarah and David interviewed.

Sarah and David are a very young couple. They have two sons under the age of three and a child on the way. David is in his early twenties and Sarah is nineteen. The family resides primarily on the second floor; however they have access to the third floor. David (an only child) and his parents lived there when he was growing up. The first floor is inhabited by David's grand-parents. Therefore, this home has now been inhabited by four generations since around the middle of the century.

A variety of miscellaneous information was gathered. Sarah reports that activity increases during her pregnancies and decreases after the birth. David and a friend have seen a vision of a panther on a bed at another location, however David has sensed the presence of a panther in this home (sounds of breathing, etc.). The couple have heard a man and woman's voice. David has been spoken to by an unseen man (told to "get out of there" while looking in a drawer). David's deaf aunt saw demonic faces on the third floor when she resided at the home.

While obtaining information regarding the movement of a photo on the first level, a key factor emerged. The photo contains a picture of David at the age of approximately13 and his parents. David's father (who was born in the fall) died on August 29th when David was 13 years old. He had been ill for some time and was virtually unresponsive two months prior to this death. During this time of convalescence, he was in a hospital bed in what now serves as David and Sarah's bedroom. His mother became highly emotionally distraught once widowed and frequently would disappear to Florida for weeks at a time. She eventually moved to a new home. David not only physically lost his father, but physically and emotionally lost his mother. He was forced to essentially fend for himself. He admittedly has only recently been able to reach a level of forgiveness.

Intuitive Conclusions:

Due to their ages and degree of stressors in their lives, both Sarah and David have the potential to be classic poltergeist generators. Sarah's past was not focused upon due to the fact that David's ties to the home are a definite factor.

The commonalities between the early family and David's family do not go un-noticed. Both families are the victims of the death of the head of the household at an early age, leaving a widow to care for the child(ren).

I sense that while their young son does not recognize the "white man" from any family photos, I believe that this is David's father still inhabiting the room where he spent his final days. David may need to do extensive work in attempting to psychologically release the pent up emotion from this time in his life to release what may actually be a projection of his subconscious rather than an actual entity. David's grandmother reportedly has also never gotten over the death of her son.

The tyrannical moods of the murder victim still permeate areas such as the third floor kitchen and the playroom. Sarah knows of one story that claims that this man's daughter was also killed in the shooting. She may be the child I sensed wandering on the third floor.

Conclusions:

The old house on Ashland Street, in many ways, can be compared to a tired old woman. She still holds her head as high as she can, but the years have taken away so many of her family, and she is no stranger to sadness and anger and frustration. Too tired to weep, she quietly sits and sighs.

It seems as though there may be at least one conscious ghost present in the house, and perhaps one or two of what may be called memories or "play-backs". They seem, however, to be secondary in strength to a more generalized "energetic" form that is likely psycho-kinetic in nature, and feeds off of the strong emotional history of the place.

It is our opinion that the third floor may well be a sort of "nexus" or anchor for the effect, though we should not overlook the strange feeling spot in the corner of the toy room.

We wish Sarah and David, and their children well. It was our hope that with time, they will be able to move to a newer, psychically fresher home, and perhaps in doing so, break away from the brooding atmosphere of the old house. We will continue to communicate with them, and support them in any way we can.

Our thanks go out to Sarah and David, for inviting us into their lives and home. We also wish to thank, once again, Chris Woodyard for passing this case on to us, and for her on-going role in our work.

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