The Shady Lane Case: Tales of Eliza

N.A. Reiter; L.L. Schillig

26 January, 2001

Background:

In mid-fall of 2000, we were contacted by a woman from the east side of Columbus, who was in the midst of a rather complex series of personal and paranormal conflicts. Cheryl came to us at the suggestion of another Columbus woman, whom we will call MB. MB was known to us previously, and had actually been a prospective case host herself about a year previous. However, for unknown reasons, MB had declined our visit at the last moment. At the time of Cheryl's contacting us, MB had been one of Cheryl's child daycare clients.

We kept in touch with Cheryl over the winter, and were slowly given a full view of the situation:

Cheryl and her husband Dave lived with two teenage daughters in a pleasant neighborhood on the east side of Columbus, just off of an older historic thoroughfare called Shady Lane, not far from the suburb of Whitehall. The neighborhood is one of those early subdivisions filled with neat but small houses from the 1950s and early 1960's.

Cheryl's house itself was built in 1957.

Cheryl and her family moved into the house in 1992, purchasing it from an elderly woman who was bound for an assisted living home. For the first five years of their residence, the house seemed perfectly normal. However, around 1997, occasional outbursts of strange activity started to be noticed. Among these were:

1. Objects vanishing from one place, and re-appearing in another.
2. The sound of a young child's tittering laughter, with no other children present.
3. Occasional voices calling out names.
4. A mysterious awakening on a night when a small outdoor fire might have done excessive damage, if not discovered.
5. On a winter's morning, tiny bone-thin child sized hand prints were seen on a frosty storm door pane.
6. Strong feelings of presence.
7. Mysterious turning off and on of appliances and the computer.

As time went on, further events transpired, and within the past year Cheryl's eldest daughter Megan (now 15) began to catch sporadic glimpses of a young female child, appearing like a gray mist or cloud. Megan also began to see, with an increasing psychic or intuitive ability, drifting circular balls or orbs in the house.

Cheryl and her daughters began to conduct some research on the neighborhood. What they found was fascinating, but subtly chilling. The property along Shady Lane had apparently been originally deeded in 1805 to a family from Nova Scotia, the Taylors. The property remained in the Taylor family for a relatively enormous length of time as a farm, extending into the early 20th century. In the 1940s and 1950s, parcels were sold off with increasing frequency, although a large portion of the original property was turned into Shady Lane Dairy Farm.

Less than one block from where Cheryl's house stands is an elementary school. Records and local testimony show that on or near this site was a Taylor family cemetery that was moved to Columbus Greenlawn Cemetery in the mid-1960's.

In late 2000, Megan began to receive impressions that the ghost now acknowledged by the family was attempting to talk to her. In extended intuitive conversations with the child ghost, Megan claimed that she was told the name and identity of the spirit. The entity claimed it's name was Eliza, and that it could not leave until it knew where the final resting place of it's father was.

From a historical angle, Cheryl found evidence that in 1863, a four year old daughter of the Taylor family by the name of Eliza had died of scarlet fever. Eliza's grave and remains had been removed to Greenlawn, although the ghost Eliza maintained to Megan that the headstones of she and a younger sister had been mixed up!

A wide assortment of other information has been transmitted via Eliza to Megan, some of it seemingly within means of historical validation, other bits being totally in the realm of belief.

In December of 2000, ghost Eliza warned Megan that one of Cheryl's daycare customers, and said customer's children, had brought a very dark or evil attaching entity into the house. Cheryl herself had independently noticed the increasingly skittish and negative attitude that her other daycare kids were showing toward said customer's offspring. An oppressive air had moved into the house. Megan was near wit's end, with warnings from Eliza becoming dire.

Finally, Cheryl requested that her customer take her business elsewhere, and that she would no longer be able to watch her kids. With this move, according to both Megan and Cheryl, the atmosphere and attitude in the house began to clear up. Ghost Eliza remained, but informed Megan that the danger had gone. However, with the passing of the "darkness", Cheryl and David themselves began to catch more glimpses of a gray, fleeting child-sized image. Eliza, it seemed, was becoming more clearly manifested, and bolder.

On Saturday afternoon, January 13th, we paid a visit to Cheryl and David's house. Would Eliza make herself known to us?

Physical Investigation:

We arrived early in the afternoon on that Saturday. The weather had been most cooperative, and the day had turned fair and sunny, with a moderate humidity. Outdoor temperature hovered around 40° F.

The neighborhood was found to be a cozy one, full of the smaller homes popular in the blossoming but ill regarded suburban expansion of the 1950s. Those days, however, were gone, and with hedges and mature trees mellowing the still neat yards and streets, one might say the area is now a warmer, homier place than in it's heyday. Cheryl's house in particular is a very tidy, inviting abode. It is of a fairly common split level design for the era.

As per our usual procedure, we spent some time with Cheryl and her family, getting acquainted and explaining our procedures to them. Following this, LS began an extended dowsing and intuitive impression-gathering walk through of the residence. I met with Cheryl and Dave, and perused through a substantial compilation of historical data and records found; all pertaining to the neighborhood.

Eventually, I followed up with multiple rounds of the house, taking digital photos with our Mavica FD82, and small Canon point and shoot 35mm camera (B&W 400 speed). We also made use of the following, from our collection of instruments:

• Hall Effect magnetic gaussmeter
• Magnetic compass
• Gold Leaf electroscope
• Ultrasonic detector
• Newly acquired ultra-high gain microphone, for use with GE recorder and EVP cassette.
• Digital thermometer and humidity gauge.
• Glass bulb spinning radiometer, for PK testing.

Thorough walk-throughs of the house were made with most of these instruments. We also made an EVP recording sequence near the top of the upper stairway, a location said by Megan to be the most likely for catching activity.

Finally, after rounds of soda pop, extended discussion, and a disclosure of LS's intuitive impressions, we departed, thanking our cordial hosts for their invitation to visit. We found Cheryl and Dave to be a refreshingly level headed and open minded couple, and their girls to be articulate and very helpful in brainstorming the goings-on in the house!

Results (Physical Investigation):

Indoor ambient conditions: (living room) 70.4° F, 30% RH

Electrically and magnetically, the house appeared to be relatively quiet. Near the head of Megan's futon bed, we observed about a 10% distortion of the background magnetic field. This was accompanied, nearer the north facing window, by a momentary 5mm deflection of the gold leaf electroscope, giving the impression of a fleeting region of electrostatic charge.

With our magnetic compass, we observed about a 5 to 10 degree deflection near the 4th step up on the upper stairway. This may be significant, in light of photographic images captured.

The EVP tape run at the head of the stairs came back with no anomalous sounds or voices that could not be identified as coming from our collective group.

The lower basement area, used for Cheryl's daycare business, seemed to be quiet, in all energetic respects.

Our Mavica camera provided the most interesting evidence of the day! We found that on many shots (>8), we can observe orb images near or on the upper stairway, far more than at any other spot in the house. (click pic to enlarge)

Several of these may show the same orb as it moves from location to location, although we are cautious about stating this too strongly. However, we also see two shots where distinct greenish toned orbs are seen directly resting on a stair! We note with interest that Megan has insisted that Eliza often appears as a greenish ball or orb...

Copies of all digital shots containing orbs have been forwarded to Cheryl and her family.

We now turn to the impressions of LS, as transcribed from her notes.

Intuitive Impressions (LS):

On-site Impressions:

As usual, I first make a sweep of the entire premises in an attempt to locate dowsable areas and pick up impressions.

One area in the living room and in Molly’s bedroom were dowsable, but no impressions of paranormal origin were received. Interestingly, each dowsable area was near electronic equipment, although I have never found electronic equipment to be an issue in the past.

In the basement/playroom, along the wall containing doorways to the bathroom and laundry room, I picked up dowsable energy that seemed to be moving or appearing and then disappearing. Again, however, no impressions of paranormal origin.

Interviews:

The family was quite open and honest in revealing their experiences. They were also refreshingly open to a variety of possible explanations. They had even gone to the bother of exploring historical evidence to support their suspicions.

Intuitive Conclusions:

We have had the opportunity to visit many "haunted" sites over the past several years. But, I must confess that this case did not have the same feel as any of our previous cases. I was not picking up any retro-cognitive impressions. I have absolutely no reason to disbelieve the perceptions of the family involved. In fact, the fact that several people seem to have been witness to paranormal events lends a great deal of credibility to the case.

I do, however, believe that the following:

1. No impressions were received by myself because I may have been having an "off" day...OR
2. This is not a classical haunting in any sense of the word.

Intuitively, I tend to agree with #2. But now, I must explain my other clairsentient impressions. I realize that I now risk disappointing our hosts who may be hoping for an explanation of a "stuck entity", but I must give my honest opinion.

Let me begin by saying that there may be some type of incarnate entity and/or the manifestation or projection of a thought-form involved here -- not the typical "dead person". I believe this, due to the fact that the many anecdotal stories told to us are so varying in description that they defy the typical explanation of a haunting.

This case did not present indications of a residual energy pattern haunting. Not only did I not pick up intuitive impressions, but incidents reported tend to negate this as an option. For example, if the spirit is able to ride with them in the car, as Megan indicates, then this eliminates this classification. Residual energy patterns stay put.

This then forces us to view several other options:

1. conscious "stuck" entity
2. poltergeist
3. non-human entity

I will now review these, one at a time.

(1) While Megan appears to communicate with the entity, this does not necessarily make it conscious or stuck. You can communicate with any of the three listed above. I do not believe that the entity ("Eliza") is stuck for the reason it states. It states that it is here in search of it’s father’s remains, yet then proceeds to inform everyone that her father is reincarnated in the current head of the household. It also has much other "all-knowing" sorts of information, which is a characteristic not found in stuck entities (i.e. it knows other reincarnations, plus precognitive situations for future souls). Stuck entities are confused, and literally "stuck" in their own time. They need help understanding their demise and the current situation. In fact, some of the entity’s actions were actually manipulative (influencing the decisions of the parent’s regarding outside relationships). This situation just doesn’t seem to fit.

(2) This situation is a fairly classic scenario for poltergeist generation. We have two females at or near puberty, which is a well-known ingredient for polt activity. These girls have recently entered the public school system after home schooling, which could be one of many stress triggers for this activity.

The eldest daughter, Megan, at first glance of the situation would seem to be the "focus". In fact, a large part of the experience seems to be controlled by her impressions. I believe that she may have been an initial poltergeist generator, but it has escalated and incorporated other factors. I think it is far more complicated.

The youngest daughter, Molly, whose bold outgoing personality and sense of rebellious style may indicate someone rightfully searching for her own identity, adds an additional entangling element to the situation. Molly appeared to be making great strides in her attempt to "fit in" to and corroborate with what seems to mostly be a situation viewed through Megan’s interpretations. On an intuitive level, I must comment that I believe Molly may be anxiously attempting to contribute her own very real impressions and valid elements to the mystery, as valid and real as Megan's, and deserving of equal family consideration.

While Megan may have initiated polt activity, I now believe that Molly’s underlying emotions have fed the polt, and created something even more powerful. But, again, I don’t think it’s quite that simple.

To complete this section, I would ask the family to carefully document ALL poltergeist activity. This activity must then be carefully analyzed to find symbolic or literal content as to its meaning. You have to become your own psychoanalyst! I will now break down a couple of the aspects reported:

Polt Activity/Messages Possible Meaning

• Interfering with computer & phone: The need for those involved to receive a message
• Apparitional manifestation: It is a young girl seeking attention
• Searching for father’s remains: Either of the girl’s attempt to better connect emotionally to their own father

In fact, there may be enough poltergeist energy behind these phenomena that the girls have successfully created a projection or thought-form entity. This would be perceived as an actual entity (such as those in traditional hauntings), but is actually fed by their own energy and thoughts. One or both of them may have created the "little girl looking for attention" (aka Eliza), but both of them are probably feeding it energy to survive. In fact, enough people believing can propagate enough energy to keep this going for quite some time. (Reference the famous "Phillip" experiment, where very real ghostly events started to occur after a group of researchers began to concentrate on a completely fictitious Revolutionary War soldier.) Even historical information on the real "Eliza" could be telepathically picked up and placed upon the projection; this could explain why Eliza seems right about some things, but her opinions are questionable on others regarding the past.

(3) There is a distinct possibility that we are dealing with a non-human entity, or even a spirit attachment of a non-human entity. This has definite elements of classic "Trickster" phenomena. I will not go into a lengthy dissertation on the Trickster or its archetypal significance, for much as been written on this and can be researched (should the family wish to do so). The fact that others have seen ball of light or energy forms indicates that there may be something more than meets the eye. Were either of the girls on the property when these manifestations occurred? If not, then this may tend to support intervention from an outside entity. It’s "all-knowing" attributes concerning many topics along with its elusiveness during our visit cause me to consider this possibility. In the event that this may be a factor, I must encourage the family to never take anything at face value that Eliza proclaims - for Eliza’s sole purpose may be to maintain contact so that she/it can maintain an existence. While Eliza may not seem negatively influential at this time, once she gains your total acceptance, the tide may turn. Proceed with caution!

This then brings me to a final possibility, which is a combination of #2 & #3!

Overall Conclusions:

While it would be enough of a task discerning the true cause of the phenomena in Cheryl's house from the evidence cited in LS's impressions, we add to this the evidence of the concentrated orb activity captured on digital photos. Consider the following:

1. The orbs appear mainly on the stairway, in accordance with Megan's statements of that afternoon as to where Eliza was during our visit.
2. The issue of the greenish hue of a couple of primary orbs.
3. The only magnetic disturbances noted in the house were either at the head of Megan's bed, or at the stairway.

If possibility no.2 of LS's analysis is valid, and a combination of the two girls' psychokinetic talents is producing "Eliza", the direction and performance of Eliza's manifestations seem to follow, surround, or be patterned by Megan.

If possibility no.3 is considered, then it would appear that the Trickster - type entity seems anchored or attached to Megan's personality.

Sadly, all of this adds up to an anticlimactic answer of "we just don't know!". If a final answer is forthcoming, it will only arise by continued objective analysis of the goings-on in the house, by all living there.

Poltergeist activity in teen females does seem to have a short "half-life". If Eliza seems to fade away in her presences and manifestations by the time Molly is perhaps 14 or 15, then explanation 2 may carry more weight.

In closing, we would both like to thank Cheryl, Dave, Molly, and Megan for their hospitality and candor; and for letting us be a part of this very unique case.

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